1

EFFECTIVE CYCLING
INSTRUCTOR'S MANUAL
Sixth Edition

JOHN FORESTER, M.S., P.E.

Founder of the Effective Cycling League

First edition 1977

Second edition 1980
Third edition 1982
Fourth edition 1986
Fifth edition 1999, 2004
Sixth edition 2008
Copyright John Forester, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1986, 1999, 2004, 2008

This Instructor’s Manual is made available as a downloadable .pdf file

for noncommercial instructional use
at no charge.

John Forester, MS, PE

7585 Church St., Lemon Grove, CA 91945-2306
619-644-5481
1 General Information
1.1 Significance of the Effective
Cycling Instructional Program
You, the reader, may have opened this Man-
ual simply to learn how to teach traffic-safe cycling
skills, either to yourself or to others. after all, much
of the reputation of Effective Cycling is in the traf-
fic-cycling portion. However, the Effective Cycling
Instructional Program has far more significance
than just a method for instructing a few cyclists. It
has a vital part in the ideological struggle to pre-
serve cyclists’ right to operate safely and effec-
tively as drivers of vehicles, the method called
vehicular cycling. You, as a prospective instructor,
have probably already recognized the need to
spread vehicular-cycling skills through effective
instruction. However, you probably have not yet
recognized the greater significance of the Effec-
tive Cycling Program itself.
American society has never recognized that
vehicular cycling is the safe and proper way to
cycle. Instead, it has always insisted that cyclists’
prime duty is to stay out of the way of same-direc-
tion motor traffic, the method of cringing along the
side of the road that is called cyclist-inferiority
cycling. The traffic laws were equivocal about this,
requiring that cyclists operate as drivers of vehi-
cles (if they didn’t, they would cause collisions) but
with only second-class rights, as if cyclists were
trespassers on roads owned by motorists. Child
cyclists obeyed this instruction, but then, becom-
ing adults, switched to driving. The few adult
cyclists learned to operate as drivers of vehicles,
and this did not matter much, because otherwise
lawful cyclists were rarely prosecuted for disobey-
ing the special bicycle restrictions thought fit for
children.
These adult cyclists who operated in the
vehicular manner organized themselves into local
cycling clubs and a national organization, the
League of American Wheelmen. These cycling
organizations promoted cycling simply because
their members enjoyed cycling. Because vehicular
cycling was better than cyclist-inferiority cycling,
vehicular-cycling skills spread naturally among the
members. The organizations believed in cyclists’
legal rights to operate as drivers of vehicles, but
only rarely was there need to formally support this
position.
Then, in the 1960s, American society
became concerned that the growing numbers of
adult cyclists might plug up the roads and incon-
venience motorists. Then, in the early 1970s,
American society adopted its bikeway program to
physically impose cyclist-inferiority cycling on all
cyclists. American society managed to impose this
discriminatory bikeway program upon cyclists
because everybody except adult vehicular cyclists
believed that cyclist-inferiority cycling is absolutely
necessary to make cycling safe.
The cycling organizations opposed this
imposition. The opposition has two main parts.
The engineering part demonstrates that vehicular
cycling is safer and better than cyclist-inferiority
cycling on bikeways, and, indeed, that vehicular-
cycling skills are still necessary with bikeways.
The other part, Effective Cycling, demonstrates
that practically all people can learn vehicular-
cycling skills with a reasonable amount of effort.
This is direct disproof of the cyclist-inferiority claim
that vehicular cycling requires extreme strength,
courage, and skill. As an Effective Cycling Instruc-
tor, you need to always remember that proving
that vehicular cycling skills can be learned by
almost everybody is a vital part of the Effective
Cycling Program.
The cycling organizations might have sur-
vived this challenge and continued operating as
vehicular cyclists in parallel with the societal norm
of cyclist-inferiority cycling. If that had occurred,
there would be no crisis today.
However, this did not occur. The cycling
organizations became overwhelmed by the influx
of ideologically active members who promoted
bicycling as the cure for motoring. These mem-
bers chose to advocate cyclist-inferiority cycling
on bikeways, either because they believed that
this was necessary for cyclist safety, or because
they recognized that their target audience, the
motoring public, believed this. The League of
American Wheelmen changed its name to the
politically-correct name League of American Bicy-
clists, and the Effective Cycling Program went
down the drain.
The LAB has shown temporary inclinations
toward reform, but nothing permanent; the anti-
motoring bicycle advocates have always regained
control. There is now no organization through
which vehicular cyclists are able to oppose the
nationwide norm of cyclist-inferiority cycling on
bikeways. You will read in this Manual of the Bicy-
cle Transportation Institute as being that organiza-
tion. However, that organization, designed to
protect and advance the interests and the activi-
ties of vehicular cyclists, in the way that a
reformed League ought to operate, has not come
2

into being. Possibly a reformed League will reform
itself accordingly, possibly not. For the moment, as
an instructor, consider that you are in the forefront
of vehicular-cycling activity and do your best to
protect and advance it.
You have two equally important responsibili-
ties. You have the responsibility towards your stu-
dents of teaching them how to operate properly in
traffic and how to enjoy their cycling activities. You
have the responsibility towards lawful and compe-
tent cyclists of demonstrating that your instruction
has taught proper traffic-cycling skills to your stu-
dents. There is only one way to carry out these
two responsibilities. You have to teach the full
range of traffic-cycling skills, and you have to test
your students according to a test procedure that
provides a quantitative measure of their traffic-
cycling skills. Testing according to the Cycling Pro-
ficiency Test and recording the results on the
Cycling Proficiency Score Sheet for each cyclist
provides the data that demonstrate the practicality
and the effectiveness of Effective Cycling Instruc-
tion. The accumulation of such data in a central
repository is absolutely necessary to provide the
evidence that the right to cycle according to the
rules of the road for drivers of vehicles must be
preserved. Without such evidence, it is unlikely
that that right will survive societal pressures
against it.
1.2 Instructional Material
The Effective Cycling Instructor's Manual is
the companion volume to Effective Cycling, con-
taining the program for teaching Effective Cycling
at all levels. This program has been administered
since 2000 by the Bicycle Transportation Institute,
after having been administered in a less effective
way by the League of American Bicyclists.
Effective Cycling can be taught only by highly
qualified instructors because it is based on the
vehicular-cycling principle, a principle that directly
conflicts with both the popular cyclist-inferiority
superstition and the typical governmental bicycle
transportation programs. Because the vehicular-
cycling principle is based on scientific knowledge
while the cyclist-inferiority superstition is just that -
a superstition - the effective cycling instructor
needs much more than an expert knowledge of
cycling and of instructional technique. He or she
needs to understand all three subjects:
1: Scientific methods and criteria
2: Psychology of superstitions, and the
3: Rationales for governmental programs.
3
This volume contains the information that the
instructor needs to first become qualified to teach
and then to teach Effective Cycling. It expands on
the information on accidents that is in Effective
Cycling because the safety of cyclists is a matter
of great public concern. The instructor must have
accurate knowledge about accidents to cyclists in
order to correct the mistaken notions that are so
prevalent among those who may consider spon-
soring or taking a course but are deterred by fear
of accidents. It states why the Effective Cycling
Program is needed, and it compares that program
against typical "bike-safety" programs that are
based on the cyclist-inferiority superstition and
also against the "on-bike" programs that have tried
to imitate Effective Cycling without committing
themselves to the vehicular-cycling principle or to
effective instructional techniques.
Having covered the background knowledge,
the Instructor's Manual then discusses the qualifi-
cation process, the methods of organizing
courses, and of course the instructional tech-
niques, materials, and lesson plans for courses at
three school levels and the adult level. There is a
chapter on testing students, and a closing one on
special instructional problems that frequently
arise.
Naturally, the instructor also needs to know
the cycling skills and knowledge that are con-
tained in Effective Cycling, for in teaching no
amount of technique can replace mastery of the
subject; the instructor must have both. For the
instructor who is also interested in the science of
cycling transportation and in governmental actions
regarding cycling, the most useful book is For-
ester's Bicycle Transportation, published, as is
Effective Cycling, by The M. I. T. Press. For the
instructor who is also interested in the science of
bicycles as machines, the two most interesting
books are Sharp's Bicycles and Tricycles.(origi-
nally published in 1896) and Whitt and Wilson's
Bicycling Science, both now available through The
M. I. T. Press, which with these four books has the
best list of serious and accurate books on cycling.
Finally, the Instructor's Manual guides and
encourages the instructor with the many state-
ments of Effective Cycling philosophy that appear
wherever appropriate in the instructions. To be
successful, the instructor must recognize that the
Effective Cycling Program is deliberately designed
to challenge the prevailing cyclist-inferiority super-
stition, but he must carry out that challenge with a
good-humored, easy-going but competent manner
that puts people at their ease and dissipates their

fear of traffic.
2 Effective Cycling Training:
What It Is and Why We Need It
2.1 Safe, Useful Cycling:
the Prime Objective of the Effective
Cycling Courses
Every Effective Cycling Course has one
prime objective that overshadows everything else.
That objective is to develop in the students a level
of cycling skills that enables each student to safely
undertake a range of trips that are useful to him or
her (considering the age of the student), and to
have each student demonstrate that he or she has
those skills by successfully completing a driving
test under traffic conditions of the specified
degree of difficulty. To provide a simple example,
consider a course that teaches driveway exiting,
stop signs, and right turns, but not left turns, either
because these are considered too difficult, or
because the course has insufficient time. Such a
course is unethically incomplete and dangerous,
because the students will find that practically any
trip they desire will include left turns. They will be
making left turns without the benefit of the instruc-
tion, no matter what their diplomas proclaim or
their parents believe.
For all students, even those at the very ele-
mentary level, development of the traffic skills also
involves the development of an understanding of
how the traffic system operates. The students are
never taught, “This is how bicycles operate;” they
are always taught, “This is how drivers operate.”
When a student learns that traffic exiting a drive-
way must yield to traffic on the roadway because
the roadway traffic will not stop, he has learned
both sides of the issue, yielding when exiting a
driveway, continuing when on the roadway. The
students learn the traffic operational rules not by
verbal rote, but by practicing them, just as they do
for any other activity. That is what develops the
understanding of how the traffic system operates,
without which no safety program will have signifi-
cant effect. Cycling according to the rules of the
road for drivers of vehicles is called vehicular
cycling (VC).
2.2 Cyclists’ Confidence in the Vehicu-
lar-Cycling Principle: the Secondary
Objective of the Effective Cycling
4
Courses
Nearly all Americans, which means most of
your incoming students, believe that same-direc-
tion motor traffic is the greatest danger to cyclists.
Therefore, cyclists should stay as much out of its
way as possible and need the protection of bike
lanes and bike paths to be safe. This is the cyclist-
inferiority superstition (CI). Some people prefer to
call this superstition the cyclist-inferiority taboo.
Taboo and superstition operate in practically iden-
tical ways. This suits motorists who wish cyclists
out of their way, and it also motivates bicycle activ-
ists who believe that people will not cycle without
bikeways.
To achieve, and later maintain, the under-
standing of how the traffic system operates
requires that the cyclist (at least, those above the
elementary ages) understand that vehicular
cycling is contrary to society’s opinions and to the
government’s bicycle policy. Because most people
believe in the cyclist-inferiority superstition, gov-
ernment bases its bikeway-building bicycling pol-
icy on it. The VC principle holds that cyclists fare
best when they act and are treated as drivers of
vehicles; the CI superstition holds that doing so is
difficult and dangerous.
Confident belief in the vehicular-cycling prin-
ciple is necessary both for safe and competent
cycling and for defending cyclists’ rights to ride
safely and competently. This subject will be dis-
cussed later in the Manual. For the moment, the
instructor must remember that developing confi-
dence in the vehicular-cycling principle is just as
necessary as developing the skills that are based
upon it.
2.3 Subsidiary Objectives of the Effec-
tive Cycling Courses
Cyclists need to know many different things and
practice many skills to get the greatest pleasure
and use from cycling:
1: Mechanical skills: Selecting and maintaining
bicycles.
2: Physical skills: Cycling gracefully and easily,
getting the most speed and distance for the least
effort.
3: Traveling skills: Going to new places near and
far, up the valleys, over and down the mountains,
carrying the necessities.
4: Environmental skills: How to handle rain, cold,
heat and darkness.
5: Traffic skills: How to ride in traffic safely and
effectively, on all types of road and with all levels

of traffic.
6: Physical conditioning: Developing one's speed
and endurance for both cycling and health.
7: Competitive skills: Learning when and how to
apply one's physical condition to go faster or fur-
ther.
8: Family cycling skills: How to continue cycling
with a young family, how to raise cycling children.
9: Political skills: How to defend and advocate the
right kind of cycling, how to tell fact from supersti-
tion, friends from enemies.
Effective Cycling training for adults may
cover any or all of these subjects, while training for
children generally is limited to mechanical and
traffic safety for reasons of time. The goal of the
Effective Cycling Program is to teach people all
that they need to know to cycle every day that they
wish, for any purpose that they desire, under all
conditions of weather, terrain and traffic.
2.4 Typical Levels of Cycling Skills
With the recent successes of Americans in
cycle racing and the enormous growth of cycling
for aerobic development and the triathlon competi-
tions, you may think that Americans cycle quite
well. A few at the top do so, but most cycle poorly,
with excessive fatigue, too many mechanical trou-
bles, excessive fear of imaginary accidents but far
too many accidents that are easily avoidable. And,
generally speaking, they advocate programs and
policies that make things worse rather than better.
The simpler of these errors are caused by simple
ignorance, not knowing the correct methods. The
more complicated are caused by superstition,
strong beliefs about the nature of cycling in traffic
that are contrary to known facts but are nonethe-
less obeyed in the mistaken belief that the violator
will certainly be killed by a car.
At a top estimate, of the 100 million Ameri-
cans who say that they ride bicycles, no more than
100 thousand ride even moderately well, and
probably the correct figure is less than half of that.
When only one percent or less of cyclists ride
properly, the training system has failed. Does this
matter? If the failures were concentrated in long-
distance touring or in competition, there would be
little social effect beyond the unhappiness of
unsuccessful athletes, but the reverse is true.
Athletic cycling, competitive or for self-devel-
opment, has been the most successful part, while
transportation, safety and public policy have been
miserable failures. Americans cycle far less than
would benefit them individually, partly because of
5
fear and partly because of social disapproval.
About 80% of accidents are caused by cyclist
ignorance, and the public policy has been one of
keeping cyclists frightened, ignorant and subservi-
ent to motorists. These are failures of the first
importance, and Effective Cycling training is the
best (although not the only) corrective measure
that is available to us.
2.5 Reducing the Accident Rate
Two different comparisons suggest that rea-
sonable cycling skill reduces the accident rate by
about 80%. American members of the League of
American Wheelmen have an accident rate only
about 20% of that of the general public. British
members of the Cyclists’ Touring Club reduce
their accident rate by about 80% in four years of
membership. In short, the experience of cycling
with better-skilled cyclists teaches better cycling
with a much lower accident rate.
2.6 Contribution of Instruction
Instruction in any subject teaches the knowl-
edge and skills that have been learned in the past
through trial and error. “Experience teaches
slowly, and at the cost of mistakes.” (1)
The function of instruction is to convey in
short time the knowledge and skills that were
learned slowly in the past; it provides the results of
experience without either the time used or the
accidents incurred while obtaining that experi-
ence. The Effective Cycling Program does not
teach anything new; the skills and knowledge that
it imparts have all been learned and proved by
cyclists and by scientists and engineers of various
disciplines. Naturally, the Effective Cycling Instruc-
tor plays a key part in instruction. Unless the
Instructor knows much more than just the outline
of the course, he cannot place the items of knowl-
edge in their proper perspective, or teach the skills
in their relevant environments.
2.7 Responsibilities of Instructors
Effective Cycling instruction is not merely a
matter of informing willing or not-so-willing stu-
dents of the content of a set curriculum. Today, the
instructor must often get the program started in
the area by persuading people that it is necessary
and possible. He must find organizations willing to
sponsor and house the classes.
Because traffic-safe cycling is a controversial
subject, he must present his case diplomatically

but soundly, to both sponsors and to students, if
success is to be achieved. Because participation
is voluntary, he must cover the subject matter and
maintain standards while still keeping the interest
and enjoyment of the students. It takes a well-
informed, well-trained, vigorous and perceptive
man or woman to do that job.
The Instructor Training and Certification Pro-
gram will help you become a well-qualified, com-
petent instructor of cycling, and later to keep your
competence and knowledge up to date. The Bicy-
cle Transportation Institute aims to assist you in
establishing classes, both directly and by improv-
ing the public acceptance of Effective Cycling
training. Since most training of cyclists is poor but
publicly accepted while the Effective Cycling Pro-
gram is excellent but controversial, the BTI insists
upon continued high standards and excellence.
Only in that way can the program do its job.
These high standards give value to the emblems
and certificates earned by instructors who com-
plete their training by successful performance in
difficult examinations. And in turn, all these char-
acteristics give value to the emblems and certifi-
cates earned by your students who complete their
training by successful performance in the real-
world driving test that you will give them in actual
traffic conditions. The real test always is cycling
itself.
1. James Anthony Froude
3 The Psychological Position of
Cyclists in America
3.1 The Cyclist-Inferiority Superstition
Almost all adult Americans strongly believe
the cyclist-inferiority superstition (CIS). This is the
feeling that cars belong on the roadway and the
cyclist does not, that cars are deadly dangerous,
that same-direction motor traffic is the greatest
danger to cyclists, so that the cyclist must stay far
out of the way of cars. I often express this as: “The
cyclist who rides in traffic will either delay the cars,
which is Sin, or, if the cars don’t choose to slow
down, will be crushed, which is Death, and the
Wages of Sin is Death.” Because the cyclist
doesn’t belong on the road, riding there is some-
thing you should not do. Doing what you shouldn’t
produces the sense of guilt, and guilt means that
you that you deserve to be punished. The punish-
ment that you deserve for cycling on the roadway
is death. That feeling, that belief, is a very power-
6
ful psychological condition. In many people it fits
the definition of a phobia.
The CIS affects people both when they are
cycling and when they are motoring, even when
thinking about either. It dictates how they feel
about cycling and about how cyclists ought to ride,
including the facilities and laws that should be pro-
vided for cyclists. The hold that the CIS has upon
the American public explains why it is that a gov-
ernmental bicycling program, bikeways, that was
designed to make motoring more convenient by
clearing the roads of cyclists, is believed to be the
pre-eminent bicycle safety program. The vehicular
cyclist looks at that program and jeers, knowing
that it is all wrong and based on completely incor-
rect theories. However, the person who still
believes the CIS cannot see the governmental
bikeways program for what it is, and believes that
it makes cycling safe.
The CIS makes it more difficult to teach
cycling to adults than to teach motoring, because
the cyclist is always bothered by feelings of guilt
and danger that don’t reflect reality. It is not until
he gets over the CIS that he is comfortable and
competent while riding in traffic.
3.2 The Importance of Overcoming the
Cyclist-Inferiority Superstition
The CIS makes it very difficult to defend
cyclists’ right to operate as drivers of vehicles,
because the public believes that cycling as a
driver of a vehicle is deadly dangerous. Therefore,
the public believes the nonsense that bikeways
both make cycling safe and eliminate the need to
operate as drivers of vehicles. That nonsense is
the prime driving force behind the governmental
bicycling program, the prime force making cycling
less useful, less efficient, and less safe.
There are two very important reasons why the
Effective Cycling Instructor must overcome the
CIS in his students.
1: As long as a student feels the emotions created
by the CIS, he will not ride properly and he
cannot feel confident and comfortable on the
road.
2: Only those people who have overcome the
CIS (or the few who never suffered from it) can
promote the right kind of cycling program and fight
to defend cyclists against the current governmen-
tal bicycling programs.
3.3 Methods of Overcoming the
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Cyclist-Inferiority Superstition chapter on accidents in Effective Cycling. The

most important conclusions to be drawn from this
There is only one known method of overcom-
information are:
ing the CIS: successful experience in traffic of
1: There are many types of accidents
gradually increasing difficulty. We discovered this
2: Car-bike collisions are not the most frequent
truth though hard experience. Later, we discov-
type
ered that this is in accordance with the standard
3: Being hit from behind by a car is a very infre-
knowledge about phobias. In more general terms,
quent type of accident
successful exposure to the feared condition in
4: Most accidents are caused by cyclist error
sequences of gradually increasing intensity, is the
5: Those cyclists who would appear to be most
only known method of overcoming phobias, the
cautious have the higher accident rate, while
only successful treatment for them.
those who appear to take greater risks have the
The Effective Cycling Instructor needs to be
lower rate
aware of this emotion in his students and develop
6: Cyclists learn through experience to avoid
his teaching sequence accordingly. Even if he has
about 80% of accident situations
a class of accomplished motorists, who really
Here are some data that are not in Effective
ought to know almost all that is necessary about
Cycling, but come from my Bicycle Transportation.
operating in traffic, he must not take them out into
Table 1:, Rank Order of Urban Car-Bike Collision
intense traffic without some practice in easy traffic
Types gives the relative percentages of each type
in the weeks before. I say weeks before, because,
of car-bike collision for urban areas, which is the
for many people, it takes several successful week-
area for which people are concerned. These data
end training classes in easier traffic, and perhaps
are taken from the Cross study, but are reclassi-
some personal experience over the intervening
fied to show urban areas only and to separate the
weekdays, for them to be ready to take on fast,
accidents caused by different riding actions.
intense traffic, no worse than that in which they
have been motoring daily. I know of several fail- Table 1: Rank Order of Urban Car-Bike
ures from attempts to hurry the course faster than
Collision Types
the students can change their feelings.
Of course, if the class consists of cyclists

Percent
Code

Rank
who are already reasonable traffic cyclists, who Collision Type
really want to sharpen their traffic skills and learn
other skills such as touring, then the instructor can
start training them in the best ways to operate in 5c Cyclist on proper side 1 9.3
intense traffic; they won’t need the usual time to runs stop sign
change their emotions. Therefore, I am quite com-
fortable teaching a one-weekend course to club 23c Motorist turning left hits 2 7.6
cyclists, because I know that they will be able to cyclist head-on
learn what I teach, won’t be held back by unjusti-
fied fears and worries. But I won’t ever try the 9w Motorist restarting from 3 6.8
same schedule for students who are not already stop sign hits wrong-way
traffic cyclists, because all that I will accomplish is
to frighten them some more.
cyclist
18t Cyclist turns left in front 4 6.1
4 Accident Statistics and of overtaking car
Prevention
Types with less than 1% omitted.
4.1 Accident Statistics Codes: Numbers are as in Cross study.
Because so much of the concern about c= correct roadway position
cycling, and about Effective Cycling in particular, s=sidewalk cycling
is about accidents, the instructor must be well- w=wrong side of road
informed about accident statistics and able to per-
suade concerned people to believe truths that
t=cyclist swerve
they do not expect.
The first thing to do is to learn the material in the
 8

Table 1: Rank Order of Urban Car-Bike Table 1: Rank Order of Urban Car-Bike
Collision Types Collision Types

Percent

Percent
Code

Code
Rank

Rank
Collision Type Collision Type

6c & Cyclist hit as traffic signal 5 5.9 10w Motorist exiting commer- 18 1.9
7c changes cial driveway hits wrong-
way cyclist
24c Motorist turns right 6 4.8
13c Motorist overtaking does 19 1.9
1c Cyclist exists residential 7 4.3
not see cyclist
driveway
8w Motorist exiting commer- 20 1.5
9c Motorist restarts from 8 4.2 cial driveway hits wrong-
stop sign way cyclist
2c Cyclist exits commercial 9 3.9 24w Motorist turning right hits 21 1.5
driveway wrong-way cyclist
3s Cyclist on sidewalk turns 10 3.0 16c Motorist overtaking too 22 1.4
to exit driveway closely
5w Wrong-way cyclist runs 11 2.6 20t Cyclist swerves left 23 1.3
stop sign
21t Wrong-way cyclist 24 1.3
26w Wrong-way cyclist hit 12 2.6 swerves right
head-on
36 Miscellaneous 25 1.3
8s Motorist exiting commer- 13 2.4
cial driveway hits cyclist 23s Motorist turning left hits 26 1.2
on sidewalk cyclist riding in opposite
direction on sidewalk
25c Uncontrolled intersection 14 2.2
collision 27c Cyclist hits slower car 27 1.1
8c Motorist exits commer- 15 2.1 Types with less than 1% omitted.
cial driveway Codes: Numbers are as in Cross study.
c= correct roadway position
Bc Cyclist runs red light 16 2.1
s=sidewalk cycling
19t Cyclist turns left from 17 2.1 w=wrong side of road
curb lane, hits car from t=cyclist swerve
opposing direction
The effect of age and experience on the car-
Types with less than 1% omitted. bike collision frequency is graphically shown in Fig
Codes: Numbers are as in Cross study. 1: Typical Car-Bike Collision Types Arranged by
c= correct roadway position Median Age of Cyclist.
s=sidewalk cycling The crux of the problem for most people who
worry about bicycle safety is that they believe that
w=wrong side of road
an aggressive style of riding causes cycling acci-
t=cyclist swerve dents, and they equate Effective Cycling with that
aggressive style. They are so imbued with the
 9

Fig 1:Fig 1: Typical Car-Bike Collision Types Arranged by Median Age of Cyclist.
 10

notion that cyclists must stay away from traffic that particular danger is of very low importance, being
they consider any deviation from that rule to be (in daylight) more than 20 down from the top of the
aggressive, a form of fighting with cars that the car-bike collision list.
cyclist cannot win. The age pattern of car-bike col- You should also know the relative importance
lisions shows an entirely different picture. If there of the various causes of injuries and deaths to
is any kind of aggression by cyclists against cyclists as shown in Table 2:, Factors Responsible
motorists, it would have to be getting in front of for Cycling Injuries and Deaths, because most
motorists so they have to stop or swerve to pre- people have a very distorted view of these. As you
vent a collision. That means, such actions as can see, the popularly-believed causes of motor
entering the roadway without yielding, swerving in traffic and defectively-designed roads are low on
front of an overtaking car, running stop signs to the list, while the topmost one, by far, is cyclist
force motorists to wait, and the like. As the car- error and the next is road-surface defects.
bike collision age pattern shows, these are all
actions of children that older cyclists quickly learn Table 2: Factors Responsible for Cycling
to avoid. As for simply cycling straight along the Injuries and Deaths
roadway, no matter how much motor traffic there
is, that cannot be considered to be aggressive at Per-
all. Effective Cycling teaches cooperation with Factor
cent
how traffic operates; it does not teach violating or
fighting the traffic system. Cyclist error 50
The instructor must handle that problem gen-
tly, acting in an obviously gentle manner to defuse Road surface defect 20
the charge of aggressiveness. He must also iden-
tify the major types of car-bike collisions, giving Motorist error 8
percentages to show his knowledge, and for each
type point out that the Effective Cycling method Bicycle equipment failure 6
takes the cautious approach. Effective Cycling
technique never requires the cyclist to ride into Pedestrians 4
trouble; whenever the cyclist may cycle into con-
Dogs 2
flict with any other lawful driver, it always requires
him to look and wait. Insufficient signal clear- 1
Then there is the person who believes that
ance time
traffic volume is itself a great danger. He or she
will say that nobody should ride a bike on X street Road design defect <0.5
because there are so many cars there. Of course,
what he means is that there are many cars over- Road capacity overload <0.5
taking cyclists, and he believes that the greatest
danger to cyclists is same-direction motor traffic. Undetermined 8
Look at Table 1:, Rank Order of Urban Car-Bike
Collision Types. Same-direction traffic appears You may be asked questions of the opposite
only in ranks 19 and 22; it cannot be a major dan- type, such as why you don't schedule your rides
ger. However, this argument is harder to handle, on the favorite bike path. There are several
because Effective Cycling does not take explicit answers to that question.
steps to prevent a lawful cyclist who is proceeding 1: The class is intended to teach traffic safety, and
straight ahead from being hit from behind. It the place to learn traffic safety is in traffic.
doesn't do so because the steps that might be 2: The class is intended to teach useful cycling,
taken are worse than the minute hazard (in day- traveling by bicycle, and the typical trip is unlikely
light) of being hit from behind. Probably the best to go where there are bike paths.
answer is a combination one: we don't take stu- 3: Such places are dangerous and there is no
dents out in heavy traffic until we are sure that technique available for counteracting those dan-
they will not swerve about, we require that they gers. The dangers are both from motor traffic and
ride far enough right to let motorists overtake eas- from non-motorized traffic.
ily, we teach them how to handle all the traffic situ- This discussion has focused on the concerns
ations that they are likely to meet, and this expressed to you, rather than on the concerns that

you may have in the conduct of the course.
This is because there is little reason to consider
accident rates or types in the conduct of the
course. So long as you ensure that your students
are ready to take the next step in training before
you introduce them to its conditions, there is no
reason to believe that any one situation is signifi-
cantly more dangerous than another. You base
your choice of routes and situations on their skill,
not on relative dangerousness. The skilled rider in
difficult conditions is safer than the unskilled rider
in easy conditions, as the statistics show. That
relieves you of a considerable burden.
4.2 Accident Prevention
The more positive aspect of studying acci-
dent statistics is the design of accident prevention
programs and prediction of their results. As is
shown in Table 3:, Estimated Reduction in Injuries,
and Table 4:, Estimated Reduction in Deaths,
Effective Cycling is by far the most promising of all
the bicycle-safety programs that have been
devised. It addresses the correct aspects of the
problem, which most others don't, and it does so
in the best manner that we know. The next-best is
the wearing of helmets, largely because of the
very large proportion of deaths that it ought to pre-
vent.
Table 3: Estimated Reduction in Injuries
Injuries
Program Reduced,
per year
Effective Cycling course 100,000
Intersection Improvement 8,000
Dog Leash Laws 8,000
Bicycle Mechanical Repair 4,000
Helmet Wearing 3,000
Headlamps and Rear 2,000
Reflectors
Roadway Widening 2,000
Bikeways, optimistic 2,000
Bikeways, realistic -X0,000
11
Table 4: Estimated Reduction in Deaths
Deaths
Program Reduced,
per year
Effective Cycling course 500
Helmet Wearing 300
Roadway Widening 180
Headlamps and Rear 160
Reflector
Intersection Improvement 100
Dog Leash Laws 80
Bicycle Mechanical Repair 30
Bikeways, optimistic 180
Bikeways, pessimistic -X00
5 Educational Programs
Compared
5.1 Conventional Bike-Safety Courses
The instructor needs to recognize the differ-
ences between bike-safety education and Effec-
tive Cycling training. Knowing the differences will
enable him to explain them and it will also help
him to teach people whose opinions have been
formed by conventional bike-safety education. The
instructor needs to know the problem, and bike-
safety education is a large part of the problem.
The conventional bike-safety program has
consisted of a classroom lecture, frequently
accompanied by a film, and a workbook contain-
ing pictures and sentences of doubtful accuracy or
relevance. Some of these programs are
addressed to elementary-school students, others
to middle-school students. The worst are so inac-
curate and misguided that it is impossible to relate
them to any useful standard. Even the better ones
are a litany of mistakes. For example, practically
all say to stop at stop signs without saying what to
do next. Practically all illustrate the left-turn signal
from the rear and show the cyclist looking straight
forward. Many illustrate curb hugging (for exam-
ple, swerving out to the curb between parked
cars). Many advise walking one's bicycle across

intersections, and those that don't, show the
cyclist looking both ways at every intersection with
the implied duty to yield to all traffic, even if the
cyclist has the right of way. Most illustrate left
turns from the curb lane without looking behind.
Every one that I have seen advises reliance on
reflectors instead of headlamps for nighttime pro-
tection.
The films are just as bad, although one
would think that the difficulties of making such
dangerous films would have alerted the producers
to the deficiencies of the subject matter. The main
point of one film was advising against "riding fast",
illustrated by a prominent entertainer acting the
fool by dodging incompetently between lanes
rather than riding safely in the lane appropriate for
his speed. This was followed by siren sounds, if I
remember correctly. Another showed cyclists turn-
ing right onto a busy street after signalling a right
turn but without checking for traffic coming from
their left. They could have been hit as the film was
being shot!
Even the American Automobile Association
publishes defective materials. It published a
poster of a cyclist making a left-turn signal with the
cyclist looking straight ahead, and its film Only
One Road advised cyclists to ride between right-
turning cars and the curb.
Even a person experienced in such matters
frequently cannot figure out a program's intended
message. These programs are hodgepodges of
confused thoughts. If somebody with my experi-
ence cannot figure them out, how can the stu-
dents? For example, in most programs it is
obvious that cars are considered dangerous and
powerful, so that cyclists must stay out of their
way. Yet the same programs advise their students
to stick out their left arms and force their way
through traffic, trusting to the motorists to protect
them.
What message can be deduced, or will the
students deduce, from such a presentation of
unlawful and unsafe behavior? It is the vocifer-
ously defended belief that sticking out the left arm
has the magical power to make it safe to turn left
from the curb lane without looking. That is the only
obvious belief that fits the instructions, so as the
students try to build a picture of the world that they
can obey, which is how this kind of instruction
works, that is the belief that they construct. They
are not yet sufficiently aware of human motives to
deduce that the basic motivation for bike-safety
instruction is to preserve the supremacy of motor-
ists rather than to protect themselves.
12
The confused state of adult thinking about
cycling shows that confusion is the main product
of "bike-safety" education. The only other concept
that I can logically develop from the typical pre-
sentation is this: Cars are usually terribly danger-
ous and will get you if they can, so you must stay
out of their way as much as possible, but when
you must get in their way there is nothing you can
do but trust to luck. Quite probably that was not
the authors' conscious intent, but it is the very
prevalent public attitude. That's what the public
thinks; isn't it likely that the public opinion has
been developed by several generations of such
presentations?
Two other conditions allowed so absurd a
system to develop. The first is that cycling stopped
attracting first-class brains by 1898, the end of the
first cycling boom. It was then obvious that motor-
ing would supersede cycling for those who could
afford it, and shortly after that it was aviation, radio
and the other modern developments that attracted
people with brains and ambition. Cycling became
an intellectual backwater and remained so until
the 1970s.
The second condition is that there was no
financial support for intellectual work in cycling.
Government wasn't interested in developing
cycling theory; the big challenge was developing
the highway system for motoring. Cyclists had low
status and generally had low incomes and educa-
tions. As the status and income of cyclists fell, so
did the profitability of cycle manufacturing. In the
United States, the manufacturers aimed only to
sell to children as the adult market disappeared.
While this change to a child market created a very
important intellectual challenge, this challenge
was so radical that its existence was not recog-
nized. The challenge was this: How is it possible
in a motoring and noncycling society, such as the
United States, to teach children how to ride safely
when children are the only cyclists? Not recogniz-
ing this challenge, the manufacturers supported
only foolish and incompetent work, mostly propa-
ganda rather than investigation, and much of it
devoted to promoting bikeways, an idea that had
no intellectual support whatever.
The absence of intellectual work on cycling
theory, the low intellectual and educational level of
those engaged in the field, and the progressive
growth of confusion prevented the developers of
American bike-safety programs from recognizing
that they had undertaken an impossible task.
They assumed that children are unskilled
and incapable of judging vehicle speed and dis-

tance and the movements of vehicles in traffic,
that children cannot look over their shoulders, that
children are mentally incapable of understanding
traffic concepts such as right-of-way, and are inca-
pable of observing and predicting traffic move-
ments. These assumptions certainly favor children
by giving them the lightest intellectual load of any
drivers; in this sense they are ideal for child safety.
The program developers' task was to devise a
system of traffic-safe cycling that would not
require any of these abilities. However, not once,
so far as I know, did any of them try to perform
that task, or ask himself how to accomplish it,
whether he had accomplished it, or whether it was
possible. Neither, so far as I know, did any of them
analyze how traffic maneuvers were actually per-
formed, by cyclists or by motorists. Lastly, it never
occurred to any of them that if there was a reason-
able prospect of developing such an easy driving
system, the motorists would have been develop-
ing it for themselves.
Having dismissed from consideration every
skill by which child cyclists could save themselves
and could operate in traffic, the safety-program
developers were left with only a few possible
instructions (to stay close to the curb, to signal
when leaving the curb, to stop at stop signs, to
look both ways at minor intersections, and to walk
across major intersections), all to be done by rote
without the possibility of exercising judgement or
even modifying a movement in accordance with
the traffic. The result contradicted traffic behavior
and the law, and is, as I have said before, the larg-
est identified cause of American car-bike colli-
sions. By denying that cyclists have the ability to
react to traffic, it denied them that ability because
it denied all instruction to develop that ability, and
it denied them the insight to consider whether they
might be able to develop that ability. Therefore, it
placed nearly all of the responsibility for traffic-
safe cycling on the motorists, although it did not
seek to change the traffic laws to accommodate
this supposed change in responsibility.
Yet nobody questioned this system. I think
that the whole bike-safety instructional system
was such a crazy house of cards that its own cra-
ziness prevented rational thought about it. Since
nothing made sense, and any attempt to make
sense of it failed, people were dissuaded from
applying any rational standard to it. It became
taught as a system of quasi-religious belief in life-
saving magic with a tradition of unquestioning
intellectual obedience.
Even the modernized bike-safety programs
13
continue in this failing. The older ones concen-
trated on teaching what not to do - basically "Don't
get in the way of cars." The later ones, like Don
LaFond's Illinois and Maryland programs, bene-
fited from Ken Cross's studies of car-bike collision
hazards by concentrating on "hazard recognition
and avoidance." The apparent concept was that
the cyclist could do anything he pleased so long
as he recognized and avoided hazards. This
approach has four serious defects:
1: Since the cyclist so trained does not know how
the traffic system is supposed to work, he has
little ability to recognize when someone is
making a mistake.
2: This technique implies that the cyclist must dis-
tribute his attention over all of the traffic scene
looking for hazards, instead of concentrating
on those particular parts of the traffic scene
that present the greatest difficulty in traversing
and the greatest probability of accident.
3: Without knowing how the traffic system oper-
ates, who has right-of-way and who must
yield, this prevents the cyclist from concentrat-
ing on those other drivers who have the right-
of-way, those to whom he must yield.
4: Most of all, this approach neglects the very
great safety advantages of understanding traf-
fic principles and developing the safe operat-
ing habits that generally keep the cyclist out of
trouble.
Proper cycling habits greatly reduce the
number of potential accident situations the cyclist
traverses and enable him to devote full attention to
those that he must traverse. The latest crop of
programs all claim to be "on road" programs, their
authors attempting to join our bandwagon as peo-
ple start to understand that cycling is not a skill
that can be learned in the classroom. It is one
thing to get out of the classroom but another thing
to get into real road conditions, and still a far differ-
ent thing to teach cycling as it should be taught.
These programs waste time on nonessen-
tials, they still contain many errors and their teach-
ing is still not based on an understanding of the
vehicular-cycling principle (so they cannot teach
that, either), and they do not allow the time neces-
sary to learn the necessary skills in traffic of grad-
ually increasing intensity. In fact, some of them
merely take the students to look at traffic, rather
than riding in it.
Another problem of conventional "bike-
safety" programs is that they are unintentionally
designed to be taught by people who don't believe

in safe cycling practices. They are designed to be
presented by the typical schoolteacher, who suf-
fers from the cyclist-inferiority superstition and
therefore cannot present safe cycling practices in
a logical, confident way. Of course, such a teacher
might present accurate information verbatim, but
the teacher's doubt would show through and the
moment that students started discussion or asked
questions the teacher would be answering in the
language of the cyclist-inferiority superstition.
Cycling must not be taught by people who disbe-
lieve in vehicular-cycling practices. Today's situa-
tion requires special cycling instructors who
believe in vehicular cycling.
Conventional bike-safety programs are not
training programs at all; they do not train students
in the sense that the word "training" is used in any
other activity. There is no practice, criticism of the
students' technique, or repeat practice after criti-
cism, at all; it is all talk. People cannot learn activi-
ties like cycling unless they do them; they cannot
learn them efficiently unless their performance is
observed, evaluated, and criticized.
In summary, expecting conventional "bike-
safety" programs to reduce cyclist casualties to a
reasonable level is unrealistic; no sensible person
should ever have had that expectation.
5.2 Governmental Policy Regarding
Cyclist Competence
The bicycling program of the United States
government is based on the claim that 95% of
American cyclists will never learn how to ride
properly, will never learn how to obey the rules of
the road while riding a bicycle. This is explicitly
stated in the Federal Highway Administration
Manual Selecting Roadway Design Treatments to
Accommodate Bicycles, 10 July 1992. The high-
way design treatment recommended for cyclists
who don’t know how to obey the rules of the road
is the installation of bike lanes. Although it is
always claimed that bike-lane stripes reduce the
need to know how to ride properly, how to obey
the rules of the road, nobody has ever been able
to explain how this works.
In other words, this bikeway system is the lat-
est version of the traditional bike-safety program.
The government proclaims: We have a system by
which cyclists can operate without having to learn
how to obey the rules of the road, but we have
only a fuzzy idea of what that system is and we
have no explanation of how it actually works. Nev-
ertheless, we firmly believe in that system and
14
insist that all else is wrong and dangerous.
The National Highway Safety Administration,
the Injury Prevention part of the Center for Dis-
ease Control, and the Federal Highway Adminis-
tration held a National Bicycle Safety Conference
in the summer of 2000. The conference was
divided into separate discussion groups named
Motorists Will Share the Road, Bicyclists Will Ride
Safely, Bicyclists Will Wear Helmets, The Legal
System Will Support Safe Bicycling, Roads and
Paths Will Safely Accommodate Bicyclists. I
attended, at my own cost, and participated in the
facilities group. John Allen participated in the
cyclist behavior group. The report is National
Strategies for Advancing Bicycle Safety, May
2001.
The strategies are so worded that there is no
indication of any controversy (except about man-
datory helmet laws). There is no reference to the
concept that cyclists should obey the rules of the
road for drivers of vehicles, and, therefore, none to
the idea that bikeway designs conflict with that
concept. The motorist behavior strategies concen-
trate on the idea that certain aspects of the traffic
laws cause car-bike collisions, without identifying
any of these supposed legal situations (which
really don’t exist). There is a list of proposed traf-
fic-law changes taken from previous work by
cyclists for the National Committee for Uniform
Traffic Laws and Ordinances, but the recom-
mended changes are not of that type. The bicyclist
behavior strategies presume simply more of the
conventional bike-safety programs. The helmet
group promoted mandatory helmet laws, which all
the others absolutely refused to accept. That con-
troversy took up all the remaining conference time.
The legal system strategies suggest investigating
to see whether or not motorists get off too easily in
bicycle collision cases. (We know of cases; are
these prevalent?) The facilities group produced
two specific strategies to carry out the govern-
ment’s bikeway program. Stripe 100,000 miles of
bike lanes. Get a not-yet-seen bikeway textbook,
written for the FHWA, into university highway
design courses across the nation. What is particu-
larly interesting about the facilities strategies is
that the group leader, Andy Clarke, who was
Executive Director of the Association of Pedes-
trian and Bicycle Professionals (the bike planners)
and is now the chief executive of the League of
American Bicyclists, admitted in writing in his ini-
tial paper that there was no evidence that the bike-
way programs of the previous thirty years had
reduced the cyclist casualty rate.

In short, the recommended strategies are so
written that everybody who reads it, or considers
trying to implement any strategy, will be urged to
continue along the present governmental policy
that is based on cyclist-inferiority and bikeways.
Vehicular cycling is carefully concealed from view
so that nobody will become aware of the concept.
This is the environment (social, legal, urban plan-
ning, educational), in which the Effective Cycling
Instructor must operate, because it is the environ-
ment that exists and permeates American society.
The Instructor who does not recognize this and
work out how to operate within it will not succeed
in developing students who both ride properly ini-
tially and continue to know why they should do so
in the face of contrary social opinion.
The instructor who does not develop such
students will have both failed his students and
failed to do his part in the defense of cyclists’ right
to ride safely as drivers of vehicles.
5.3 Effective Cycling Imitations
There have been, and maybe still are, imita-
tions of the Effective Cycling courses, or courses
that used to go under the name of Effective
Cycling. These often describe themselves as on-
bike courses that teach cycling, or safe cycling, or
some such name. I have seen several important
deficiencies in these:
1: The courses don’t teach a safe, useful bundle of
traffic-cycling skills. The adult students who com-
plete true Effective Cycling courses are pos-
sessed of traffic-cycling skills that enable them to
cycle on all reasonable roads and in all reason-
able traffic conditions. Not only is there no point in
teaching an adult only enough traffic skills to ride
on residential roads or rural bikepaths, but qualify-
ing so limited a cyclist is harmful to both the stu-
dent and to the rest of the cycling population.
2: The courses don’t end with a full driving test
that demonstrates whether or not the student has
learned a full set of traffic-cycling skills. If the stu-
dent is not tested, the previous training could well
be useless.
3: Even if a full bicycle-driving examination is
given, it is not scored in a quantitative manner.
You can’t tell whether or not a cyclist has learned
the skills without observing more than one exam-
ple of each maneuver, and without a quantitative
score there is no way of evaluating the value of the
course, of comparing one course against another,
or even for correcting for one mistake by a stu-
dent.
15
These deficiencies stem from several
sources. One is the desire to have short courses
because these are thought to be popular. The
trouble with that concept is that it is impossible to
teach beginners how to ride safely in a short
course. They need time to learn (even though, as
motorists, most adults already know how to drive
a vehicle), they need time to change their emo-
tional state from one of fear to one of confidence.
The public has two major mutually incompat-
ible strong beliefs about traffic cycling. The first is
that there’s little to learn, that they learned it as
children. The second is that it is extremely difficult,
that only supermen can do it. As a result, the
members of the general public are unwilling to
invest the time to learn the skill. Why should they
bother to learn something that they already know,
and, in any case, if they did learn how to do it they
couldn’t do it anyway. It is true that courses suffi-
ciently long to teach traffic cycling are not popular.
However, it is equally true that courses that
are too short cannot teach people to ride safely for
the normal range of trips that they might take.
The Effective Cycling Program always
chooses the safer and most effective of the
choices: teaching students a kit of traffic-cycling
skills that enable them to ride safely anywhere in
town, and testing them to ensure that those who
pass indeed have those skills.This policy is quali-
fied for children; for them the conditions of instruc-
tion and testing are limited to those suitable for
their ages.
The defective driving tests stem from two dif-
ferent causes. The first is that too many of these
courses don’t teach the skills that are required to
pass the test. The second is plain laziness, to put
the best face on it, on the part of both instructors
and administrators. They don’t want to take the
time to score the driving tests, just as they don’t
want to take the time to read and score proper
written examinations. Possibly, also, is the desire
to have no quantitative scores that could be used
to make comparisons between instructors and
between courses.
The Effective Cycling Program always
chooses the proper testing and scoring proce-
dures, both for the benefit of the students who
know whether or not they have really demon-
strated the required skills, and for the benefit of
the Program, by allowing analysis of the scores
achieved for both scientific and public relations
purposes.

5.4 Effective Cycling Courses
There are several reasons for the success of
Effective Cycling courses. The first is that they are
based on the secure foundation of the vehicular-
cycling principle. There is ample evidence that the
rules of the road for drivers of vehicles provide
workable procedures for traffic operation, both in
terms of how vehicles operate and in terms of the
human ability to control them. Nobody disputes
this principle: if it were not correct, the motoring
system could not exist. The dispute is over
another matter. Conventional wisdom claims that
riding a bicycle makes one incapable of operating
according to the rules of the road, a view for which
there is no scientific support whatever, and which
is contradicted by the success of the Effective
Cycling Program.
Because the vehicular-cycling principle is so
important a foundation of the program, it is equally
important for the instructor to recognize that he is
teaching theory as much as practice, and to
phrase his instructions in terms of the vehicular-
cycling principle. Even when teaching children,
who are not sufficiently mature for instruction in
abstract theory, it is important to ensure that the
teaching embodies the theory and enables the
children to figure out the theory for themselves,
even before they are ready to state it in words.
This is how children learn about the world. Follow-
ing the vehicular-cycling principle gives success in
three forms. It reduces accidents, it gives legiti-
macy, and it produces practical mobility for
cyclists.
The second reason for the success of the
Effective Cycling Program is that each course is
based on the generally-recognized method of
teaching similar subjects to students of that age.
We consider Effective Cycling to be training
in the practical operation of bicycles, and we teach
in the ways that have been proved successful for
teaching other practical skills. Young students
require a great deal of practice and do not learn
much from verbal instruction in what to them is
abstract theory. Older students can learn more
from verbal instruction and a base of that instruc-
tion enables them to benefit more quickly from
practice. Therefore, they can learn more in the
same time and we use that opportunity to teach
more. Adult and young adult students who take
the course for their own interest both can learn
more and want to learn more. For them there is
homework, both reading and practical, as well as
longer and more detailed lectures before the
16
riding portion of each class. However, even with
the greater proportion of verbal instruction, they
still get more hours of practical instruction on the
road because the course has greater length. Prac-
tical instruction is the base of the Effective Cycling
Program.
This brings us to the third reason for the suc-
cess of Effective Cycling: it is a useful course. It
aims to impart the knowledge and develop the
skills that cyclists need to use their bicycles every
day, for whatever purposes they desire, under all
conditions of terrain, weather and traffic. The stu-
dents recognize that they are learning valuable
and useful skills, and they respond accordingly.
Even in the restricted format of the school-
based courses, in which little more than traffic-
safe cycling is covered, the students recognize
that this training gives them the practical mobility
that they desire.
The fourth reason for the success of Effective
Cycling is the knowledge possessed by its instruc-
tors. They not only know cycling, but they under-
stand the scientific questions concerning cycling,
the social position of cycling in our society and the
psychology of cyclists that these have produced.
Effective instruction in a controversial subject is
possible only when the instructor understands the
controversy.
6 OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS
6.1 Full Course for Adults
6.1.1 Objectives of the Full Adult Course
The first objective of the Effective Cycling
Course for Adults is to impart the knowledge and
develop the skills that are necessary for using
one's bicycle every day that one wants, for what-
ever purposes one desires, under all conditions of
terrain, weather, road conditions and traffic. This
may also be stated as developing the beginner
into what most people now consider to be an
expert cyclist or a good club cyclist, although with-
out the connotation of great speed or endurance
(which can hardly be developed from scratch in
the duration of the course and which some cyclists
don't desire).
The mechanical skills should start with
choosing a bicycle for fit and quality desired. The
students progress to performing all the routine
adjustments and inspections on their own bicy-
cles, and to the theory of all the operations neces-
sary to inspect and replace all the moving parts.
The objective of the theory section is to give

the students the theoretical knowledge and the
confidence that by following the instructions in
Effective Cycling they will be able to perform each
of the operations required whenever it becomes
necessary and they have the tools to do it.
The manual skills are developed by several
exercises: changing and patching a tire, disas-
sembly and reassembly of sample hubs and by
disconnecting and rerivetting a section of chain.
The students are encouraged to undertake
further mechanical tasks at home by instruction in
the principles of bicycle maintenance and simple
demonstrations by the instructor. The objective is
to make the student as independent of mechani-
cal assistance as is reasonably possible, both in
case of mechanical trouble on the road and to
obtain reliable and consistent service from his or
her bicycle with a minimum of special trips for
repairs at bicycle shops.
The bicycle-handling skills to be developed
cover all aspects of bicycle handling that are use-
ful when riding on the road. These are: starting
and stopping; pedalling smoothly and selecting
the correct gear; riding straight even when looking
behind; use of the brakes at maximum safe decel-
eration; rock dodging swerves; instant turns;
crossing potholes and diagonal railroad tracks;
handling gravel and slippery places; high speeds
and high-speed turns on descents.
The physiological knowledge and exercise
skills cover all that cyclists need to know about
their bodies and minds in order to travel the fastest
and furthest that is comfortable for them, with the
least fatigue possible. This covers: smooth
pedalling style; high-cadence, low-force pedalling;
replenishing food, water and salt; physical training
programs; saddle comfort; avoidance of exercise
injuries, particularly those in the knee; pacing one-
self for the ride; time-trialling technique. These are
developed in part through lecture and in part with
as much riding as we can get in.
The traffic-cycling objectives are to provide
the confidence, knowledge and skills to ride under
all conditions of traffic. Since many students in this
course will be adults who have had bike-safety
courses and motor-vehicle driving courses, a very
basic objective is to counteract the fear of cycling
in traffic that these have produced. This fear is
overcome by repeated, successful use of traffic-
cycling skills in traffic of gradually increasing inten-
sity. This will not be successful unless the cycling
experience is successful, so that the instructor
must prepare for success by providing a basis of
verbal instruction in theory and method, then dem-
17
onstration of the method, and then practice in
easy traffic. Only when the students perform a
maneuver substantially perfectly in easy traffic is it
proper to ask them to perform the same maneuver
in more difficult traffic.
This foundation process is started with
instruction in the principles of traffic law, to give
the students both a basic understanding of how
the law works and the recognition that the laws for
drivers of vehicles (not those for cyclists alone)
treat cyclists as fairly as they do other drivers and
are the basis for our rights and safety when on the
road.
The objectives of the traffic skills section are:
knowledge of the basic principles of traffic law and
its value to cyclists; knowledge of the accident sta-
tistics to learn that the most frequent accidents
can be avoided and that the most feared accidents
are the least frequent; the skill of selecting the cor-
rect position on the roadway under all conditions;
the skill of knowing when and how to yield to cross
traffic; the skill of changing lanes under all condi-
tions; the skill of selecting the correct starting
position at any intersection for any turn; the skill of
taking the proper path through merges and
diverges; the skill to recognize and evade the
more common mistakes made by other drivers;
the knowledge of the extra hazards commonly
found in bikeways; the confidence to use all these
skills in traffic of all intensities.
In addition to teaching competence in the
traffic environment, the Effective Cycling adult
course has the objectives of teaching the compe-
tence to handle other environmental conditions:
darkness and rain, heat and cold. Even if none of
these conditions occurs during the instructional
period, the students should understand the infor-
mation in Effective Cycling, why each item is
important and how to obey it.
Cyclists also need to possess the skills for
enjoying cycling. Effective Cycling covers cycling
around town and to work, over the mountains,
cycling with clubs, cycle touring, some knowledge
of racing and the skill of time trialling, and cycling
with mate and children. For each subject, the
objective is to enable the student to start each
activity correctly, avoiding the mistakes of most
beginners and starting to acquire the proper skills,
even though there is insufficient time in the course
for the students to develop great skill. The class
rides should have developed the skills of riding in
town and in a group, and of riding a time trial,
which are the basic skills for commuting, club
riding and racing. The skills of mountain riding,

touring, mass-start racing, and of cycling with love
can only be introduced verbally within the course
(unless the class of students is very unusual).
Lastly, it is highly desirable for students of
cycling to acquire some understanding of the polit-
ical and social situations in which they find them-
selves as cyclists. People who have studied the
technique of cycling in traffic are in the best posi-
tion to understand and support the vehicular-
cycling principle and to learn of the ways in which
that principle is opposed. The objective of this part
of Effective Cycling is to make the students aware
of the reasons why Effective Cycling differs from
the traditional bike-safety course, the deficiencies
in the federal bicycle regulation (particularly about
nighttime protective equipment, brakes, and the
regulation's inability to reduce injuries), the politi-
cal opposition to proper cycling and the reasons
for it, the psychology of the cyclist-inferiority com-
plex, and the resulting social status of cyclists.
There is insufficient time for students to acquire a
detailed understanding of any of these subjects,
but they should leave the course with knowledge
that these problems exist and that Effective
Cycling and the vehicular-cycling principle are the
proper criteria for what's right for cyclists and
what's wrong with much of present policy.
Results are of two types: skills and knowl-
edge that should be measured to determine how
well students have done in the course, and atti-
tudes and opinions that, while important, should
not be used to determine student performance.
Performance measurement is the heart of the
course. Practically all students learn to perform
the basic mechanical operations and at least half
of them progress to doing more complicated oper-
ations at home during the duration of the course.
Practically all develop acceptable cycling posture
and pedalling motion and increase their speed
and endurance. The average increase in speed
between the two time trials is about 20%.
They show that they know the physiological
reasons for eating and drinking while riding, the
importance of salt replacement in hot weather and
how to stay warm in cold weather, even though
they may have little practice in extreme conditions.
Practically all learn to perform the bicycle-han-
dling maneuvers with acceptable speed and
smoothness. Class averages for the road test in
heavy traffic are about 90% and practically no stu-
dents who have proceeded that far with the course
fail it. Students do not answer written questions
about traffic behavior as well as they perform in
traffic itself, which suggests that either their verbal
18
skills are not as good as their operating skills, or
that they have not yet fully incorporated the vehic-
ular-cycling principle into their understanding of
traffic.
6.1.2 Attitudinal Results of the Adult Course
Attitudes and opinions are harder to mea-
sure, both technically and because they should
not be considered in evaluating student perfor-
mance. However, most students show significant
changes in behavior that are related to changes in
attitude and opinion. They ride more and over a
wider choice of roads, with less worry about traffic.
They talk about, and take pride in, being driv-
ers of vehicles. They expand their cycling horizons
to longer trips to more different places. In places
where there are bad bikeways, they conclude that
they won't ride on them. Rather than worrying
about the dangers of bicycling, a rather typical atti-
tude at the start, they have a confidence that their
cycling skills will carry them through.
6.2 Partial Courses for Adults
There has been a long history of complaints
that the Full Adult Course (FAC) is too long, that
people don’t want to commit ten Saturday morn-
ings to learning cycling. In one sense, that is a
reasonable complaint; cycling skill (except for spe-
cific parts) is so denigrated that most people see
no reason to want to learn it. In another sense,
that is a most unreasonable complaint; it takes
time to learn the skills that make cycling safe and
enjoyable.
If the FAC is too long, then what parts should be
deleted? One can consider that the FAC consists
of four parts:
1: Bicycle Mechanics: Those skills that are desir-
able to keep your bicycle operating
2: Bicycle Handling: Those skills that enable you
to direct your bicycle on the course and speed that
you desire
3: Traffic Cycling: Those skills that enable you to
travel safely and effectively in the traffic environ-
ment
4: Cycling Enjoyment: Those skills that enable you
to enjoy various cycling activities The typical plan
divides the time into several blocks of about two
mornings each, supposedly more convenient for
the participants, who are expected to continue
through several blocks. Such plans also reduce
the content.
The typical first block limits the Mechanics to
safety check, bicycle size adjustment and fixing
 19

flats, the Handling to starting, stopping, and shift- Driving Test and who have shown a reasonably
ing, the Traffic to two-lane easy roads, and elimi- comprehensive knowledge of other cycling
nates Enjoyment. The result is useless aspects. It is up to the instructor to decide the
(insufficient practical skill), dangerous (insufficient depth of the course that will lead up to such tests,
traffic skill), and unattractive (no enjoyment), and and, therefore, the level of skill and knowledge
few participants continue. required for enrollment in the course.
The most serious purpose of Effective
Cycling training is to develop the skill of cycling 6.3 Effective Cycling for Children
safely and effectively in the traffic environment.
The objectives for the Effective Cycling
That means, passing the Cyclist Traffic Proficiency
courses for children are much less. In most situa-
Driving Test. If the participants do not learn
tions there is insufficient time to do more than
enough to pass the driving test, the training has
teach the traffic skills in terms of obeying the five
been both useless and dangerous. However,
traffic principles in real traffic of the appropriate
when potential beginning participants consider
level. If more time is available when teaching stu-
taking the course, traffic cycling is the part that
dents of 12 or 13 years, then it is used to teach
they think they will most dislike and most fear.
elementary bicycle inspection and maintenance.
After all, they have been raised to dislike and to
The typical course is only 20 class sessions
fear cycling in traffic.
(say 15 hours), yet in this time children aged from
Beginners cannot be taught traffic-cycling
8 years to 13 years (in age-separated classes)
skills in a hurry. It is not that so much must be
learn to ride acceptably well in traffic of the type
learned; most adults already know how to drive in
that they probably need to traverse in their daily
traffic. The difficulty is in adjusting the emotions so
travels. Eight-year-olds learn to ride on two-lane
that that knowledge can be used when cycling.
residential streets, ten-year-olds and older learn to
Hurrying through the instruction subjects the par-
ride on multi-lane streets, and thirteen-year-olds
ticipants to the new stress of cycling in traffic with-
learn to ride on multi-lane streets with medium-
out sufficient time to adjust to it. It also is poor
speed, dense traffic. In each case, these students
instructional technique because it reduces the
do better than average adult cyclists in the same
opportunities for the instructor to evaluate the
circumstances. The class average scores on the
progress of each participant, thus possibly push-
traffic cycling test in real traffic are about 90%, just
ing a participant into a maneuver for which he is
as for adults in their course. All of the students
not yet ready. Notice that it is not until the sixth
learn confidence in what they are doing. The
meeting of the FAC that the class does a series of
youngest learn that by doing the right thing they
left turns in fast, heavy traffic. Only after that is the
can cooperate with motorists. The ten-year-olds
class ready to take the Cyclist Traffic Proficiency
learn enough to tell each other how to ride better
Driving Test. Therefore, assuming that the partici-
and to criticize each other's mistakes. The older
pants are mostly beginners, the course can’t be
ones acquire sufficient confidence and under-
shortened by more than three meetings. And
standing of the traffic system to start telling other
much of those three meetings are devoted to
drivers how to drive better. It is obvious that even
cycling enjoyment, which are activities to which
without formal instruction in it, these students are
the participants look forward with pleasant antici-
acquiring the vehicular-cycling attitude at an early
pation. It is necessary to have sufficient enjoyable
age, before the cyclist-inferiority superstition has
and desired activity in the course to attract and to
hardened in their minds. I hope that they will retain
keep participants despite what they anticipate to
this attitude despite subsequent exposure to the
be the drudgery and fear of traffic cycling.
cyclist-inferiority superstition, an exposure that
However, not all classes will consist largely of
must be expected in today's milieu. The experi-
beginners. When the participants all have consid-
ence of adult cyclists, who rarely, if ever, retreat
erable experience of cycling in traffic and want to
from the vehicular-cycling principle to the cyclist-
sharpen up their traffic-cycling skills, a two-meet-
inferiority superstition, supports this expectation.
ing course works fine. Two mornings with a week
between is better, but I have done this on two
mornings of one weekend. 6.4 Attitudinal Results
This must be emphasized. The Effective The traditionalists criticize the inclusion of
Cycling Certificate can be awarded only to those the above attitudinal objectives, considering that
who have passed the Cyclist Traffic Proficiency these constitute undesirable social engineering,
 20

the promotion of cycling and the expression of un- have talked, no alternate organization has formed.
American values. This is not so. Individual adop- As the author of this Manual, I can be found at:
tion of the vehicular-cycling view does not come John Forester
so much from propaganda as from the individual 7585 Church St
recognition that it is correct for the cyclist, provid- Lemon Grove, CA 91945-2306
ing the safety, speed and convenience that he Or through the website:
requires. It explains the way that traffic operates johnforester.com
and how to use its characteristics to achieve
safety, speed and convenience. As Francis Bacon 7.1 QUALIFICATION PROCESS
remarked: "Nature (the traffic system, in this
Qualification as an Effective Cycling Instructor is
case), to be commanded, must first be obeyed."
earned through a five-step process:
That this truth conflicts with current popular opin-
1: Admission
ion merely shows the popular error. While the
2: Preparation
growth of the vehicular-cycling opinion will eventu-
3: Written Examination
ally overcome current popular error, it is justified
4: Cycling Proficiency Examination (Road Test in
by its value to individual cyclists (in providing them
Traffic)
with safety, speed and convenience in their cho-
5: Practice Teaching
sen mode of travel) rather than by some appeal to
The qualities sought in candidates are expe-
mysterious social values.
rience, knowledge and competence in cycling;
However, most bicycle activists criticize this
understanding of cycling sport and compatibility
range of objectives for being too meager, for not
with cyclists; teaching ability; the ability to orga-
including the social engineering measures and
nize a course (which means an understanding of
values that they desire. In their desire to convert
the social and political problems of teaching
the world to cycling they want to inform students
proper cycling technique).
that bicycles are non-polluting, fuel efficient, much
used in China (seemingly forgetting about India,
7.1.1 ADMISSION
probably because of its politics), still used in Hol-
Admission into the Instructor Training Pro-
land (forgetting the deplorable conditions of that
gram is through review of your cycling experience
use), and a valuable weapon in the wars against
and personal qualifications as shown on your
the automobile and against urban sprawl. These
application form, and of recommendations from,
things are unjustified social engineering propa-
preferably, responsible cyclists who know you and
ganda that is controversial, frequently falsely pre-
have cycled with you. The cycling experience
sented and, in any case, useless to the cyclist.
required is regular cycling for both utility and plea-
What matters it to the American cyclist how
sure under all conditions of traffic, terrain, and
many Chinese cycle, unless he intends to take a
weather, sufficient to develop the automatic per-
cycling tour in that country? What does matter is
formance of cycling techniques and the attitudes
how to best cycle in America, and that is the sub-
that cycling under all conditions is a normal
ject of the Effective Cycling course, without propa-
human activity that is best performed according to
ganda for anything else. What some consider to
the vehicular-cycling principle.
be propaganda is merely learning the truth about
Upon admission, you will be assigned to an
how to best use bicycle transportation in the mod-
Advisor, an experienced instructor who will
ern cities of modern industrialized nations, and
answer your questions, help you along, keep your
the attitudes needed to protect that use.
progress records, and arrange for you to take
each examination when you are ready. The advi-
7 INSTRUCTOR QUALIFICATION sor will live as close to you as can be arranged.
PROGRAM You will also be placed on the mailing list for
instructor information. You are then eligible to par-
Effective Cycling Instructor qualification ought to ticipate in instructor seminars, which often include
be administered by a Bicycle Transportation Engi- cycling proficiency examinations (road tests).
neering organization. However, at this time (2004)
no such organization has decided to do this work. 7.1.2 PREPARATION (STUDY)
The League of American Bicyclists failed misera- Many candidates have successfully prepared
bly at this task. The reformers have not corrected for the examinations without attending any semi-
its problems. Although other groups of persons

nars. If you are already a highly competent cyclist,
which you ought to be before applying, you know
the subject that you will be teaching. However, you
may know it without having carefully considered
why you operate as you do, the scientific basis for
it, and how to explain it to others. Careful study of
Effective Cycling will sharpen up your cycling
knowledge and enable you to recall it quickly.
You also need to know why Effective Cycling
instruction is necessary and its scientific basis.
The first chapters of the Effective Cycling Instruc-
tor's Manual summarize this subject. We have dis-
covered that certain instructional techniques and
sequences are more effective than others
because they match the students' cycling psychol-
ogy. Successful instructors not only use these and
similar techniques, but they do so with empathy for
each student's emotions. By careful study of the
Instructor's Manual you will learn these instruc-
tional techniques and understand why they work.
Lastly, most instructors today have to estab-
lish the first classes in their areas, because few
areas now have cycling instruction. There are
many 'bike-safety' programs and events, which the
public incorrectly believes provide adequate bicy-
cle safety instruction to participants. The public
does not understand that people cannot learn
bicycle safety without learning and practicing safe
bicycle operating technique; the public's concept
of safe bicycle operating technique is limited to
curb-hugging, stopping at stop signs, and signal-
ling without looking; and the public believes that
what we know to be safe bicycle operating tech-
nique is a dangerous activity for super-skilled
enthusiasts. Instructors who have been successful
in gaining sponsorship and students have suc-
cessfully persuaded or circumvented officials who
probably believed the common 'bike-safety' super-
stitions; they were able to do so because they
understood, without believing, the common social
attitudes about cycling. Probably you don't yet
understand why you think differently about cycling
than most people do. By careful study of the
Instructor's Manual you can learn to understand
the difference in attitude and how to persuade or
circumvent those who believe the common cycling
superstitions.
With careful study, and maybe some conver-
sations with your advisor, you will be well pre-
pared to take the examinations.
7.1.3 WRITTEN EXAMINATION
The examination covers three types of mate-
rial: cycling knowledge, teaching knowledge, and
21
social and psychological knowledge. Most ques-
tions require short essays in answer, because the
essay form shows how you think about the subject
and how you present it. The subjects include: bike
mechanics and maintenance; bike handling princi-
ples; emergency maneuvers; cycling physiology;
techniques for cycling in traffic; techniques for
dealing with exceptional conditions of weather,
lighting, grades and the presence of other cyclists;
sporting touring and social aspects of cycling;
teaching skills and the recommended curriculum;
social and political issues that affect cycling and
the teaching of cycling. You will need to study
carefully both Effective Cycling and the Instruc-
tor's Manual.
There is no time limit for taking the examina-
tion, but most instructor candidates take 3-4 hours
to complete it. It is a "closed book" examination.
Normally the Written Exam may be taken
close to your home. You should make arrange-
ments for someone to supervise your exam; that
is, someone acceptable to your Advisor to whom
the Examination Committee can mail the exami-
nation questions and who can provide you with a
comfortable, quiet place for a few hours to take the
examination. Postage and a return envelope are
provided to the supervisor for returning the ques-
tions and your answers to the appropriate person
for grading. The person whom you ask to super-
vise the examination must be acceptable to your
Advisor (and through him to the Examination
Committee). That means that he/she must be a
person with a reputation for probity in the cycling
community. We suggest, in order of preference: a
person suggested by the Advisor, a Certified
Effective Cycling Instructor, the officer of a bicycle
club, one of the persons who recommended you
as an instructor candidate, some other responsi-
ble person outside your family. After asking an
appropriate person to supervise your examination,
you should notify your advisor, sending the per-
son's name and address and a statement that you
are ready to take the exam, or will be ready by a
certain date.
Examinations are given two or three times a
year, but candidates are allowed to take their
examination at any time that suits their conve-
nience within a week of the appointed time.
Bring to the examination room a pad of 8.5" x
11" paper for your answers to the essay part of the
exam, and a supply of pens or pencils. You will
write each answer on a separate page, in order to
assist in dividing up the grading work among sev-
eral readers.

Grading normally takes from two weeks to
two months, depending on the time of year (may
be slow during good cycling weather), vacation
schedules, job obligations, and other correspon-
dence of the volunteer instructors who grade the
exams. You will be notified by letter of the results
as soon as available. You must score at least 70%
on each part of the examination to pass. Good
preparation will make failure unlikely, but should
you fail once you may take another version of the
examination at a later date.
7.1.4 CYCLING PROFICIENCY (ROAD) TEST
The instructor-level cycling proficiency (road)
test is similar to that which all instructors give their
students, but it is longer so it can include as many
cycling situations as is possible, and substantially
perfect performance is required.
The road test is administered by an approved
instructor. In many cases, road tests are given as
part of an instructor seminar, or at cycling conven-
tions or rallies. Otherwise, your Advisor will try to
arrange for you to take the road test with an
approved instructor at a mutually agreeable place
and time. For some candidates in very unusual
locations, a different arrangement has been made.
The test will be largely run over city streets at a
time of medium to heavy traffic, because deter-
mining your competence when cycling in traffic is
the major objective.
When taking the cycling proficiency test, you
need bring only normal cycling equipment.
7.1.5 PRACTICE TEACHING
There are two methods of fulfilling the prac-
tice teaching requirement. Method (A) is preferred
if you live near an active Certified Effective Cycling
Instructor. Method (B) will have to be used by
those remote from a certified instructor. Both are
described in more detail below.
7.1.5.1 Teaching Assistant
Assist a certified EC Instructor in teaching
one or more courses. You should be involved as
much as possible in all aspects of the course
including planning, promotion, performing
mechanical demonstrations, lecturing on theory,
leading the on-road instruction, preparing and
grading written examinations, and giving road
tests. When the certified instructor feels that you
have gained sufficient experience, he or she
should give you a letter to this effect for you to
submit in support of your practice-teaching report
(described below) and send this to your Advisor
22
with the letter from the supervising instructor.
7.1.5.2 Teaching On Your Own
If this method is allowed by your Advisor, you
may arrange and teach an Effective Cycling
course. The course should cover at least the
material in the first seven sessions of the eleven-
session course that is outlined herein, although
you may rearrange the material as necessary or
desired to suit your planned schedule. You should
have at least five students taking the course. Most
of the students should be inexperienced cyclists,
but you should also have one or two who are
experienced, because these help the class along.
You should arrange for some evaluation of
your course by an experienced cyclist, for exam-
ple by having a certified instructor or an officer of
a bicycle club attend one or more of your later
sessions and write a letter to your Advisor giving
his or her evaluation. In any case, you must sub-
mit to your Advisor sufficient information to enable
him or her to reach an objective evaluation of your
teaching practices and skills. The most important
information is how well your students learned: if
the students learned well, the instructor taught
well.
7.1.5.3 Practice Teaching Report
This report is to substantiate the claims that you
taught and that your students learned. It should
include at least the following information.
1: Your course schedule and the sponsoring orga-
nization (if any).
2: The number of students starting your course,
their initial experience levels, attendance during
the course, number remaining at the end, and the
number of successful completions.
3: Any noteworthy successes, failures or prob-
lems, and your assessment of the reasons for
them.
4: The final examination written questions, the stu-
dents' answers and your grading of them. The
score sheets for the final road test.
5: Comments by your students about whether or
not they felt comfortable with your teaching style.
6: If you didn't use the outline given herein,
whether or not you were satisfied with the course
outline that you used, and why.
7: What you feel was the most important thing that
you learned by teaching the course.
7.1.6 CANDIDATES WITH EXTENSIVE TEACH-
ING EXPERIENCE
Some instructor candidates, prior to applying

to the EC Program, have acquired extensive expe-
rience by teaching cycling courses on their own.
Such candidates, if they feel that their experi-
ence is substantially equivalent to the normal
practice-teaching requirement, may submit a prac-
tice teaching report as described above. The Advi-
sor will judge the extent to which the candidate
has fulfilled the practice teaching requirement.
7.2 PATCHES AND CERTIFICATES
FOR STUDENTS
If you teach a course as an authorized
instructor-in-training and thereby are granted your
Effective Cycling Instructor's Certificate, your suc-
cessful students will be eligible to receive Effective
Cycling patches and certificates.
8 ORGANIZING AN EFFECTIVE
CYCLING COURSE
8.1 MARKETING EFFECTIVE
CYCLING
8.1.1 FINDING A MARKET
The most difficult task for an instructor is
attracting students to a course. With other sports
like skiing and swimming and with activities like
driving a motor vehicle people sign up for classes
because they want to learn. Some are motivated
by the desire to acquire skill and knowledge, some
to learn to avoid the dangers of the activity, and
some, for some activities, to learn to pass the
licensing test. With cycling it is not so. People are
convinced that cycling in traffic is dangerous, but
they are also convinced that what they were
taught in bike-safety classes is all that can be
done to lessen that danger. As badly as most peo-
ple ride, they are satisfied with that degree of skill
because they believe that there is no more to
learn. Because cycling is a childhood activity, they
believe that what they learned as children is all the
knowledge about cycling that exists.
There are exceptions, but these are the
exceptions that demonstrate the general truth of
this rule. Many people recognize that they don't
know how to maintain their bicycles, partly
because modern bicycles differ from those they
had as children and partly because they were
never taught bicycle maintenance. Many people
recognize that they don't know what equipment to
take on a long tour, because they have never
toured before. These reasons explain why the
most popular bicycle classes are about mainte-
23
nance and the next most popular are about tour-
ing with emphasis on the equipment.
Bicycle safety doesn't sell. People have been
convinced by boring bike-safety classes that they
know all that there is to know about that subject,
and they don't want to hear any more about it. The
skill of cycling through urban traffic attracts only
the few who want or need to ride in urban traffic;
most people want to ride in rural areas and plan to
avoid riding in cities, or else they advocate bike-
ways so that they won't have to ride in traffic. Very
few people start cycling with the intention of learn-
ing to ride centuries; they believe that twenty-five
miles is a long distance. Cycling is a minor sport
and a minority interest in America. The surveys
that show that cycling is America's second most
popular sport are false: they show only the popu-
larity of what Americans think is cycling, which
isn't cycling at all as we sporting or transporta-
tional cyclists know it.
In organizing an Effective Cycling Program,
the instructor must work within the limited market
that exists outside these generalizations. He must
attract unusual people to the course. Some criti-
cize this viewpoint as elitist, but it is not. Elitism is
a pejorative word that is frequently misused, but
its essence is the belief that only the few having
the greatest aptitude are worth consideration.
Success in Effective Cycling is not a matter of
aptitude, for practically everyone can learn the
Effective Cycling techniques if they want to. The
question is interest rather than aptitude; finding
those who are or may become interested. Those
who criticize Effective Cycling for being elitist com-
mit the opposite error when they teach cycling. In
their effort to be populist, they teach only the pop-
ular and easy aspects, ignoring the heart of the
course that we teach. The best way is to be nei-
ther elitist nor populist, but to do what works best.
That is, to appeal to the interests of prospective
students, and then to teach them far more than
they originally thought they wanted to learn.
There is some connection between interest
and aptitude. In a society whose dominant idea
about cycling is the cyclist-inferiority superstition,
people who think for themselves are more likely to
be interested in cycling than are those who accept
the popular beliefs. Although cycling is a cheap
means of transportation, only a few of those who
are interested in cycling (except for university stu-
dents) do so because they need cheap transpor-
tation. Although cycling is a good means of getting
about in a congested city, relatively few people
(except the transportation reformers) are inter-

ested in urban transportational cycling. In Amer-
ica, cycling is not a poor person's transportation or
sport, but neither is it a rich person's sport.
The poor person and the person with a blue-
collar job are more interested in cars than in bicy-
cles, the rich person in yachts, horses and air-
planes. Interest in cycling is greatest among
people with middle-class incomes and technical or
professional jobs or intellectual interests. Within
those groups, interest is greatest among those
who are interested in physical fitness, an active lif-
estyle or the outdoors. The Effective Cycling
Instructor is most likely to attract students if he
markets his course among such people, and the
major attraction is the enjoyment that people will
receive through cycling, or, more exactly, the
greater enjoyment they will receive through Effec-
tive Cycling training than by learning the hard way.
We must always remember that cycling interests
only a small minority of the population. It isn't true
that there are millions out there who are just hun-
gering to go cycling except for their fear of cars.
The small number of cyclists is why the mass
media pays cycling little attention and then is gen-
erally inaccurate. For the same reason, mass
advertising doesn't pay, because the cost
depends on the very large number of copies of the
advertisement that are distributed to everyone
while the returns are based on the very small
number of people who are interested in cycling
and the even smaller number who are, at that
time, interested in learning to cycle better. The
Effective Cycling Instructor needs to find groups of
people where the potential interest in learning
Effective Cycling is far greater than average, and
to inform them that the course exists and of its
schedule. This takes time. You can't expect to
develop sufficient interest in a class in the one
month before it is scheduled to start.
Before discussing other prospective audi-
ences we'll look at the two that were mentioned
above as exceptions: the university students and
the transportation-reforming, bicycle-activist asso-
ciations. The great crowds of bicycles around
some university campuses suggest that these are
great markets for Effective Cycling, but it hasn't
proved so. University cyclists are involuntary
cyclists; they cycle because they have to, as little
as possible, and they stop cycling as soon as they
can. Of course, hidden in the crowds of involun-
tary cyclists are some voluntary ones, but they are
not specially visible. Because cycling is a seduc-
tive sport, some of the involuntary cyclists may
decide that they enjoy cycling, or are ready to
24
make that decision if they are guided correctly,
but, again, these are a small minority that must be
sought out. The universities themselves are not
inclined to help. They do not consider cycling to be
a university sport, and they will not pay faculty to
teach or coach it. Even those universities that pay
the medical costs of many cycling accidents that
occur on campus have not thought it worth-while
to make cycling courses available as a means of
reducing their risks. The most that universities will
do is to provide the institutional approval for a
cycling club or team that operates largely on its
own money. That makes the university market for
Effective Cycling merely another club market, and
one whose members have little money to pay for
it.
The typical association of bicycle activists
expresses great interest in cycling and in encour-
aging cycling, but most of these (there are a few
notable exceptions) have not sponsored Effective
Cycling courses. Their interests are different;
many of their members encourage cycling princi-
pally as a means of opposing motoring. They
loudly express their opposition to Effective Cycling
as elitist, because they are not interested in better
cycling but in more cycling, obtained in whatever
way will attract the ill-informed majority of the pop-
ulation. Therefore, they take the popular route of
catering to the cyclist-inferiority superstition by
advocating bikeways and bicycle program offices,
rather than the unpopular route of opposing these
and supporting Effective Cycling and better
cycling by and for those who choose to cycle, no
matter how few they are. So long as these opin-
ions are so prevalent in them, the bicycle associa-
tions are not a good market for Effective Cycling.
With these two potential specialized markets
aside, the problem returns to that of locating,
informing and attracting the potential students
among the general population. Bicycle clubs are
an obvious medium. Their members are inter-
ested in cycling, and some are new and inexperi-
enced. Furthermore, their members are likely to
have contact with people who are thinking of start-
ing to cycle or who have done so but haven't
joined the club. The club may also have contacts
with local government, service organizations and
media. Its ride for each week may even be pub-
lished in a local newspaper's activities section.
Bicycle clubs have been one of the most suc-
cessful bases for Effective Cycling courses.
Because Effective Cycling blends cycling
with education, it would seem that it would fit well
within the adult education and community college
 25

systems. It used to be so; community colleges OR SPONSOR

used to be the most successful bases for Effective
The class needs a base, and a sponsor can pro-
Cycling courses, but financial strains now limit
vide some assistance.
most such institutions to courses that society con-
However, these are not necessarily the
siders useful. To put it more plainly, society is
same. A sponsor provides institutional support as
unwilling to subsidize instruction in Effective
well as, possibly, money. A decade ago, when a
Cycling and many other self-development sub-
community college adopted the course it provided
jects. For Effective Cycling instruction to succeed,
publicity (through its catalogs and flyers), enroll-
it must support itself by offering instruction that
ment procedures, a classroom, insurance, and a
people are willing to pay for. As in most other
salary for the instructor. This is much less likely
aspects of cycling, we can't expect government to
now than it was a decade ago. Today, community
do it for us; cyclists must do it ourselves.
colleges charge the students enough to pay the
Bicycle shops are certainly places fre-
instructor and to pay for their overhead expenses.
quented by people who are interested in cycling,
In return, they supply only the classroom, insur-
but, with rare exceptions, they are not good bases
ance, and a listing in the catalog. It may not be
for an Effective Cycling course. The usual shop
worthwhile to seek a sponsor under these terms.
owner has a short-sighted view of cycling. He is
I have taught both through a community col-
interested in things that bring people into his shop
lege and on my own with my house as base.
more than in things that increase people's plea-
When teaching at my house I held the lectures in
sure in cycling. This is short-sighted, because stu-
my back garden and planned to move inside,
dents in Effective Cycling courses tend to go on
carefully, only if it rained. Teaching at my home
an equipment splurge once they find out what they
was no more difficult, even easier, than teaching
want, and the more that they cycle the quicker
through the college. Modern technology has pro-
they wear out their equipment and need to replace
vided machine substitutes for many of the other
it. But the fact remains that the prospect of an
services that sponsors used to supply. For exam-
Effective Cycling course that will start next April
ple, a personal computer at home, with access to
does not favorably affect sales in January.
a quick-print shop, provide an efficient means to
Establishing an Effective Cycling course
produce publicity flyers. The same computer with
seems to the shop owner to be a longer-term
printer provides cheap copies of papers that are
investment than he usually considers, and he is
needed in only small amounts, like route sheets
used to dealing with tangible inventory like bicy-
and exams. A telephone answering machine
cles rather than intangible assets like programs.
receives calls whenever they are made, whether
However, bike shops are good places for distribut-
you are at home or not. An electronic calculator
ing publicity about Effective Cycling courses that
makes it easy to calculate test scores and to keep
are based elsewhere.
simple accounts about the course finances. All in
It is important to search for students in a
all, it is possible to run a course from one's house
cycling area, a place where voluntary cyclists are
and it has the minor advantage that all of one's
and, therefore, where a higher than average pro-
tools and displays are right at hand.
portion of the population are likely to be potential
However, one's house may not be in the right
students. By cycling area, I mean an area where
location for teaching the course, or one may live in
cyclists live, not areas where cyclists like to tour.
an apartment. Then the instructor needs to locate
So far as I know, no courses are given in areas
a suitable class meeting place. A classroom-type
where cyclists like to tour but do not live. Since
room with easy access from the street is ideal, but
cyclists tend to be middle-class suburbanites with
the ideal is necessary only if the probable weather
technical or professional jobs or intellectual inter-
requires an enclosed room. If that is what you
ests, the course should be where such people
need, most likely it can be obtained only through a
live. Poor areas, blue-collar areas and the richest
sponsoring organization. In that case, it may well
areas are not suitable. It is also possible to give
be the sponsor's major contribution. However, an
courses where technical and professional people
enclosed room is not always necessary. If the
work, particularly if they are given at lunch time or
weather is good, a public park is suitable, and
immediately after work in the summer, generally
many of these have some roofed-over space that
through an arrangement with the employer.
can be used if it rains. Nothing that is done in
class requires chairs and tables. The mechanical
8.2 SELECTING A BASE
 26

demonstrations can be done while sitting on the about. Telling them that you end up with a 40 mile
ground, as roadside repairs must be, and they ride with a lunch stop doesn't scare them. To them
can't be done in a chair with a writing arm you point out the expert aspects of Effective
because that slopes too much. The final exam Cycling, and say that even most experienced
papers can be held on temporary clipboards made cyclists get a lot out of the course. To them you
of corrugated fiberboard (cut from cardboard car- emphasize the traffic cycling, the accident statis-
tons for lightness). The equipment for most ses- tics and accident avoidance, the advanced bike
sions can be carried in a saddlebag, and the larg- handling, the touring and racing information, the
est amount for any session can be carried in a pair advanced maintenance skills and the philosophy
of panniers. of the vehicular-cycling principle. This is all true,
because the state of cycling knowledge is so low
8.3 ATTRACTING STUDENTS that even people who think that they are well-
informed still don't know as much as is taught in
Even if the instructor is attached to an educa-
an elementary course like Effective Cycling. Effec-
tional institution, he must attract students through
tive Cycling develops beginners into experts; it's
his own efforts. It is insufficient to put the course
good for both beginners and the moderately expe-
on the schedule and wait for students to sign up.
rienced club cyclist. However, be careful in how
(Of course, things might be different in a university
you distribute appeals to the expert aspect of
setting, but we are not discussing that.) The
Effective Cycling. It's fine to tell that to club mem-
instructor needs to use all the contacts he has and
bers, but when you give them flyers to distribute to
can develop to spread the word about the forth-
their friends and people who may contact the club,
coming class.
who are probably beginners, give them flyers that
People respond best when an appeal touches
emphasize the beginning aspects. There are four
their present interests. Saying that the Effective
basic ways to distribute information about a forth-
Cycling course will teach people how to ride cen-
coming course: personal speech, indirect distribu-
turies does not attract prospective students
tion of flyers, notices in the cycling press, and
because until they have greater cycling experi-
notices in other lists of activities. There are quite a
ence they are appalled at the prospect of riding
few local organizations who will listen to talks
100 miles. Most people who are interested in
about cycling or bicycle safety, if you pitch the talk
learning to cycle better have the quite modest
to their interests: PTA's, service clubs, school
expectation of getting more enjoyment from
organizations, Y's, outdoor clubs, and of course
cycling. They want to avoid the problems that they
bike clubs. Give them an interesting talk, inform
recognize, learn how to ride easier, learn about
them of the Effective Cycling course, and hand out
equipment, and have companionship. Very few, at
flyers. Flyers can be distributed indirectly by giving
the start, are interested in becoming expert
them to bicycle shops, recreation departments,
cyclists although the Effective Cycling course will
and Y's.
develop them to what is commonly considered the
In areas where there is a cycling press (rang-
expert level. The most effective appeals deliber-
ing from bike club newsletters to calendars of
ately underplay the expert aspects of Effective
cycling events to tabloid monthly newspapers), the
Cycling and emphasize that the course is
editors are likely to carry a story as well as the
designed for beginners, that it teaches beginners
terse announcement of the course. Publications
everything that they need to know to enjoy cycling.
which are interested in local events may also carry
Emphasize the following: looking after your
a story that announces the course.
bicycle, learning how to avoid problems and acci-
The flyer is of utmost importance, because in
dents, learning how to ride more easily, develop-
each type of distribution the object is to get a flyer
ing physical condition, learning about touring and
that has the appeal, the enrollment information,
touring maps, going on lots of enjoyable rides with
and application form into the hands of a prospec-
other beginning cyclists. You have to be honest,
tive student.
but it isn't honesty to frighten people with facts
The flyer must contain the following items: an
that, when they actually experience them, are not
attention-getting appeal; a description of what the
frightening or even difficult to handle. Of course,
student will learn and how it will benefit him; refer-
the pitch to cycling clubs and experienced cyclists
ence to the stature of the Effective Cycling Pro-
can be both broader and much more specific,
gram and the particular instructor; the name of the
because they understand what you are talking
sponsoring institution (if there is one); a particular

person, address and phone number to contact for
further information; the times and place for the
course; how to enroll; the cost; and an application
form. There may be good reason to prepare sev-
eral versions of the flyer with different appeals and
descriptions that emphasize different aspects of
the course for different markets. The appeals and
descriptions ought to be written according to the
considerations discussed above.
8.4 SAMPLES OF APPEALS AND
DESCRIPTIONS FOR FLYERS
The first flyer shown in the next page. is intended
for the general public, the second is intended for
members of a bicycle club.
9 PREPARING TO TEACH
You need to get certain items of equipment ready
before you start teaching. You need cycling equip-
ment, tools, demonstration equipment, printed
forms, supplies, clothing, as detailed on the follow-
ing checklists. You may also need to arrange for
textbooks for the students and for a video to show.
9.1 TEXTBOOKS AND FILMS
The usually-used textbook for an Effective
Cycling course for adults is Forester: Effective
Cycling. If the course situation requires the
instructor to manage the supply of books, instruc-
tors can purchase copies of Effective Cycling at
wholesale prices from the publishers: The M.I.T.
Press, 55 Hayward St., Cambridge, MA 02318;
MITPress-orders@mit.edu.
The usually-used textbook for a course for
school children is Forester: Effective Cycling at
the Intermediate Level. This is available from its
publishers: John Forester Publications, 7585
Church St., Lemon Grove CA 91945-2306.
A book that you may wish to use to improve your
knowledge of cycling affairs and cycling policies,
particularly as concerning government, is For-
ester: Bicycle Transportation, also published by
The M.I.T. Press at the address given above. You
may wish to show a video, either during the
course or when disseminating preliminary infor-
mation about the course, as when organizing a
program or as publicity for the course. The same
situation prevails about videos as about books;
most are worthless or harmful.
The only video that I recommend is what is
commonly known as The Effective Cycling Video,
produced by Seidler Productions, seidlerproduc-
27
tions.com.
9.2 CYCLING EQUIPMENT
1: Bicycle
2: Nighttime equipment capable of being mounted
on your bike: Headlamp, either bright LED or
generator type, bright rear reflector, LED rear
lamp
3: Mudguards
4: Water bottle and cage
5: Saddlebag
6: Tire pump, frame mounted type, with head for
both Schrader and Presta valves
7: Touring pannier rack
8: Touring pannier bags
9: Touring tools
10: First aid kit
11: Oil squeeze bottle with very narrow tip, or
other oil application tool
9.3 DEMONSTRATION EQUIPMENT
The following items are required:
1: Rear derailleur, racing or touring, but opposite
from your own type, used is OK
2: Spare brake and derailleur wires
3: Soft plastic foam, 3" cube, 2 pieces
4: Chain, short sections, used, 1 per student, pre-
pared for chain joining practice
5: Rim section, 6" long, steel, common wired-on
section
6: Rim section, 12" long with valve hole, light alloy,
narrow, drop center (Welch type), prepared as
rim tape exhibit
7: Rim section, 6" long, Mavic Elan or other pure
hook bead type, prepared as rim taping
exhibit
8: Tire section, 6" long with tube, high pressure
wired-on of best type
9: Tire section, 6" long with tube, utility wired-on or
heavyweight
The following items are required only for a
course with the more detailed mechanical instruc-
tion.
1: 1: Tire section, 6" long with tube, racing tubular
(if students are interested)
2: 2: Rim section, 6” long, for racing tubular (if stu-
dents are interested)
3: Headset bearings, full set of cups, cones and
balls, used, prepared according to the instruc-
tions given later in this chapter.
4: Bottom bracket axle, cups, balls, used, pre-
pared according to the instructions given later
 28

ENJOY YOUR CYCLING MORE!

TO GET MORE FUN FROM YOUR BIKE JOIN THE EFFECTIVE CYCLING PROGRAM

EFFECTIVE CYCLING teaches everything you need to know to enjoy cycling, from
rides around the neighborhood to tours in delightful countrysides.

Each Effective Cycling session is a ride in which you are taught, practice
and enjoy some aspect of cycling:

CYCLING SKILLS

Bicycle Maintenance Bike-Handling Skills

Developing Coordination for Easy Developing Physical Condition for Faster
Cycling Cycling
Learning How to Handle Traffic Cycling With a Club
Going on Tours Teaching Your Own Children

These rides are carefully adjusted to match the progress of the class; you always have
companions of your own level of skill and condition. By the end of the course you will be
confident wherever you ride your bicycle, and will be ready to ride with experienced
cyclists.

The Effective Cycling Program was developed by John Forester, a famous cyclist and
cycling transportation engineer, the author of the two leading books in the field, Effec-
tive Cycling and Bicycle Transportation. It is an enjoyable way to learn the easy meth-
ods and effective skills of cycling that he has learned in fifty years of cycling enjoyment
and twenty five years of study, research, and teaching.

The Effective Cycling course will meet on eleven Saturday mornings, from (starting
date) to (completion date), starting at 9:00 am, at (place). Preparation for each session
will include additional cycling and a reading assignment. Sessions will start with a short
talk and demonstration and then the class will go on a ride. Most rides will end at 12.00
noon, but for one later ride we will take our lunches and ride into the afternoon.

The course is sponsored by (institution's name) [and 3 credits will be awarded]. The
fee for the course is $----, payable by check to __________________ at
____________(address). The course text is Forester: Effective Cycling, which is avail-
able at ________ for $____.

Participants may use any bicycle with hand brakes and a variable gear (3-speed, 5-
speed, 10-speed, etc.). Do not purchase any equipment until after the first meeting,
because the instructor can advise on what is best for your cycling style.
 29

IMPROVE YOUR CYCLING SKILLS AND

KNOWLEDGE
LEARN THE EFFECTIVE CYCLING SKILLS

EFFECTIVE CYCLING SKILLS

Faster Bike Handling Accident -Avoidance Techniques

Riding Harder With Less Fatigue Better Maintenance Methods

How To Handle Traffic Riding At Night

Principles of Gears and Gearing Touring and Racing Techniques

Cyclists’ Rights and Duties Protecting and Advancing Cyclists’ Rights

EFFECTIVE CYCLING is the fast, enjoyable way to become an expert cyclist. Stimulating lec-
tures provide the knowledge, exciting rides develop the skills of EFFECTIVE CYCLING.

The Effective Cycling Program was developed by John Forester, a famous cyclist and
cycling transportation engineer, the author of the two leading books in the field: Effective
Cycling and Bicycle Transportation. His fifty years of cycling and twenty five years of study,
research, and teaching combine the lessons of experience with the latest scientific knowledge.
You will learn the skills that have worked for cyclists and why they work. You will develop confi-
dence in your skill and knowledge. You will learn why EFFECTIVE CYCLING is the best guide
to what's right for cyclists in governmental policies.

The Effective Cycling course will meet on eleven Saturday mornings, from (starting date) to
(completion date), starting at 9:00 am, at (place). Preparation for each session will include addi-
tional cycling and a reading assignment. Each session will include:

1: Cycling knowledge discussion

2: Bicycle mechanical demonstration or practice
3: Cycling skills instructional ride

Most rides will end at 12 noon, but at least one ride will be an all-day ride with a picnic
lunch.
This course is intended for persons who have some cycling experience and can ride 25
miles in 1.5 hours.

The course is sponsored by (institution's name) [and 3 credits will be awarded]. The fee for
the course is $____, payable by check to ____________ at (address). The course text is For-
ester: Effective Cycling, which is available at __________ for $____.

Do not purchase any additional equipment until after the first meeting, because the instruc-
tor can advise on what is best for your cycling style.

in this chapter.
5: Hubs or pedals, used, 1 per student, prepared
for bearing assembly instruction according to
the instructions given later in this chapter.
6: Cups, small, paper or aluminum foil, 2 per stu-
dent for holding bearing balls
9.4 REGULAR TOOLS
1: Spoke wrench
2: Chain tools for chain joining practice (students
should have their own, but you should have
some extras)
3: Socket wrenches, 1/4" drive, Tee handle, 3"
extension and 8, 9, 10, 11 mm sockets
4: Adjustable wrench, 4" long
5: Adjustable wrench, 6" long
6: Screwdriver
7: Cotterless crank removing tool (the one that fits
your cranks is fine)
8: Hexagonal keys, 5, 6, 7 mm
The following is required for the course that
includes the more detailed mechanical instruction:
9: Cone wrenches, assorted sizes to fit the hubs
that you use for bearing assembly practice
9.5 HOMEMADE TOOLS AND DEMON-
STRATION EQUIP
1: Tire repair kit per Effective Cycling Chap 2
2: Third-hands, string type, 2 extra
3: Bike stand. The type depends on your class-
room base. Instructions for making a simple
portable type that you can carry to class and
also use on the road are given later in this
chapter. If you have secure storage for tools,
then either a fixed base type or the semi-por-
table bipod type that fits the down tube and
bottom bracket is suitable.
4: Rim-vertical-dent removing tool (rim jack) per
Effective Cycling Fig. 19.4.
5: Empty tuna can, or similar, and 1" paint brush
(cheap) for chain lubricant.
6: Cable housing, 1 foot, with nipple on one end
and other end ground or filed square.
7: Inner tube and patching materials for patch
demonstration.
8: Number placards, one per student (not neces-
sary if you know the students by name).
9.6 PAPER FORMS
1: Maps, local, different scales of same area.
2: Maps, local touring areas
3: Maps, topographic, some local area
30
4: Map measurer (opisometer)
5: Enrollment forms. See Fig 6
6: Route sheet forms. See Fig 7.
7: Time trial result forms
8: Club newsletters from local clubs, racing and
touring newsletters or newspapers, cycling maga-
zines
9.7 SUPPLIES
1: Chassis grease, black molybdenum disulphide
type, small can
2: Kerosene for cleaning solvent, 1 gallon
3: Oil, SAE 90, 1 quart
4: Chain lubricant, per Effective Cycling Chap 10
or your choice
5: Cleaning rags, 1 per student
9.8 CLOTHING
1: Spare shorts, chamois or synthetic lining
2: Polypropylene short liner
3: Cape and spats for rain gear
4: Helmet
5: Shoes with the type of foot-retaining system
that you use.
9.9 MAKING EQUIPMENT
9.9.1 TIRE INFLATING EQUIPMENT
The instructor has to be able at the first class
to pump any type of tire that students may have. In
the old days we went to much trouble (and time) to
make adapters and modify students’ Schrader
valves. Nowadays, with high-pressure pumps that
have two heads, one for Schrader and one for
Presta, get yourself one. You will be ready for
whatever failures your students present. Remem-
ber, a high-pressure pump can pump low-pres-
sures tires, but a low-pressure pump cannot
develop sufficient pressure for high-pressure tires.
9.9.2 BEARING ASSEMBLY AND ADJUST-
MENT KITS
9.9.2.1 Get bearing assembly kit for each student.
Kit consists of:
1: Hub (or pedal if insufficient hubs are available)
2: Two small cups (paper or aluminum) to hold
bearing balls
3: 1 cleaning rag
4: Cone wrench to fit hub (See below) Students
use own dumbbell wrench or adjustable for
hub lock nuts.

9.9.2.2 Prepare Hubs Or Pedals
Prepare the hubs (or pedals) as follows:
Hubs must have loose balls (no cages), and
preferably have toothed lockwashers to fit axles
with slots, and dust covers that are part of the hub,
not the cone. Hubs should not have either quick-
release skewers or wheel retaining nuts. Disas-
semble and clean the hubs. Make sure that the
cones and balls are smooth. Replace if necessary.
Run the cones and locknuts on and off the axle
enough times, or use a thread-cleaning die on the
axle, so that the cones and locknuts can be easily
turned with the fingers for the full length of the
thread. If any have the Campy-style rear lock-nuts,
replace these with hex locknuts to save on cone
wrenches. Reassemble the hubs with light oil, not
grease, and make sure that each can be adjusted
properly and will then run smoothly.
9.9.2.3 Cone wrenches:
You need sufficient for the class. The Mafac
multiple-size cone wrench is good for this,
because it has one smooth jaw and one with 4
notches for different sizes of cone. Most Ameri-
cans don't recognize its function. Also usable are
cheap sheet-steel open wrenches, ground thinner
if necessary, in the following sizes: 1/2" (file to
13mm); 9/16" (for 14mm); 5/8" (for 15mm and file
to 16mm); 11/16" (17mm). It would be nice to have
one wrench of the correct size for each hub, but a
bit of sharing can be accommodated.
9.9.3 RIM TAPING SAMPLES
From a discarded light-alloy, drop-center,
(Welch type), high-pressure narrow rim cut a
piece about 1 foot long that includes the valve
hole (or drill a new valve hole in the center of the
cut piece). On each side of the valve hole fill the
drop center with silicone rubber, building it up
flush with the shoulders of the rim at the valve
hole and tapering off to zero thickness before
reaching the first spoke hole on each side of the
valve hole. Leave the valve hole open. This work
is described in Effective Cycling Chap 8, Fig. 8.10.
With epoxy glue fasten nipples into the spoke
holes as if they were held in by the spokes.
On one side of the valve hole, install perma-
nent rim tape consisting of two sections of twine
and one of adhesive tape, again following the
instructions in Effective Cycling Chap 8, Fig. 8.8.
When cutting the string, leave its ends long so that
they protrude from the end of the rim section, so
the students can see where they run under the
adhesive tape.
31
From a discarded pure hook bead rim cut a sec-
tion about 6" long (several spoke holes long). With
epoxy glue, fasten nipples into the spoke holes as
if the spokes were holding them in. Install rim tape
to cover all but one of the spoke holes.
Cut a 6" long section of common steel rim to
show its hollow construction.
9.9.4 HEADSET BEARING DEMONSTRATOR
This is an easy-to-carry item with windows
cut into it so that the students can see the location
of the parts inside.
Find a discarded frame with intact headset
with steering column and fork crown. Disassemble
the headset unit, including removal of the bearing
cups and head tube bearing races. (No need to
remove the fork crown race.) By cutting the top
and down tubes about 2" from the head tube, sep-
arate this from the rest of the frame. Cut the fork
blades from the fork crown. With a hacksaw, cut
out approximately a quarter segment (90°) from
the head tube, leaving a C-shaped unit. Clean up
all the parts to make a nice display. Reinstall the
head tube bearing races. Reassemble the head-
set parts in the normal way.
You may want to prepare a bottom bracket
with cup-and-cone bearings in the same way.
Whether you will use it depends on how many stu-
dents show up with this type. Also, get a used or
new bottom bracket cartridge to demonstrate the
new type.
9.9.5 PORTABLE BIKE STAND
Here is a portable bike stand that supports
the handlebars of an upside-down bike. It can be
carried easily with a few tools in a saddlebag. Just
follow the drawing below to make it. For ease in
assembly, bend both brace wires to exactly the
same size. Drill the holes in the base. After
assembly, drill the holes in the uprights to suit the
brace wires. Then the brace wires are inter-
changeable.
See Fig 2: Portable Bike Stand.
9.9.6 MODIFIED TAPE RECORDER FOR ROAD
TESTS
You must be able to control the recorder with both
hands on the handlebar. This means that the
recorder must have jacks for both a remote micro-
phone and a remote on-off switch. A voice-oper-
ated (VOX) recorder is ineffective because most of
what it records will be traffic noise. The maximum
recording period need be no longer than one hour.
The recorder is a standard cassette-type por-

Fig 2:Portable Bike Stand
table battery-powered recorder with provision for
remote on and off switching and for a remote
microphone. The recorder is carried in a small
backpack (preferably made to fit) or, if small
enough, in a jersey pocket. The microphone may
be either clipped to the jersey (called a lapel-
mounted or a tie-clip type), or a microphone
mounted on a headset and positioned adjacent to
the mouth. The remote switch consists of a single
pole, single throw, momentary contact, normally
off, keyboard control button designed for mounting
on a printed circuit board (I used Electrocraft 35-
418, probably not now available; Partsex-
press.com miniature pushbutton switch 069-110 is
similar), which is connected to a 24ga 2-conductor
wire. Sew a thumbstall (like the thumb of a glove)
and arrange a wrist strap secured with velcro.
Glue the wired switch to the ball of the thumbstall
with plenty of silicone rubber that is well filleted
around the switch. Make two arm-sized elastic
32
and velcro garters to hold the switch wire to your
arm. Put on the backpack with the recorder inside
(a slab of polyurethane foam between recorder
and spine is comforting). Mount the thumbswitch
on your thumb and clip the microphone to your
clothing just below your collar. Then cut the switch
and microphone wires to the correct length, and fit
with plugs to match the recorder jacks. Fasten or
sew the wires to the backpack shoulder straps to
prevent them from getting caught.
1: Push Switch
2: Microphone
3: Wire, 24ga, 2 cond.
4: Plug to fit remote jack, 2 each
5: Plug to fit microphone jack
6: Foot Switch
To use the recorder, put the recorder in the
backpack and connect the wires. Put the recorder
in Record mode; it will not operate because the
switch is off until you press it. Put on the back-
pack, mount the thumbswitch and with the arm-
bands secure the switch wire to your arm just
above and below the elbow. Clip the microphone
in place. To operate while riding your bicycle,
press the thumbswitch either with your forefinger
or against the handlebar or brake lever mount,
and speak naturally. When dismounting, release
the recorder from the Record mode because
many recorders are damaged by being stored with
the heads and capstan advanced, as in either
Record or Play modes.
With odometer and watch, this recorder is
also useful for making evaluations of trips and
routes.
When playing back the tape to record obser-
vations on paper it is a great help to have a foot-
operated switch to turn the recorder on and off.
These switches are commonly available for use in
transcribing dictation, and have a cord that plugs
in to the same socket that you have used for the
thumbswitch.
9.9.7 NUMBER PLACARD
The number placard is a simple way to make
easily-donned numbers to identify students for
both classes and tests. You need as many plac-
ards as students plus a few spares.
For each placard you need:
1: Fabric, lightweight, light in color, 10" x 12" tear
size
2: Battens, 2, 1/16" x 1/4" x 9-1/4", made of wood,
plastic or stainless steel
3: Bias tape, 1/2", 12" long, 2 pieces

4: Shoelace, 36" for smaller students, 44" for
larger students.
You also need a waterproof marker with a
wide (1/2"+) tip for marking the placards. Sew a
quarter-inch hem into both the 12" sides of the
fabric to form the top and bottom edges. Hem
each remaining side to form a tube that will accept
a batten. Slip a batten into each tube and sew the
tube's ends closed to retain the batten. Into the
fabric that is adjacent to the two ends of one bat-
ten sew the two ends of one 12" piece of bias
tape. Sew them so the tape forms a loop extend-
ing horizontally from each end of the batten.
Repeat for the other batten. Into the middle
of one of these tapes tie a shoelace so that one
end is about 12" longer than the other. The end of
the placard that has the shoelace will be the right-
hand side. With the marker, write the numbers that
you desire on the placards. Use only two-digit
numbers so that there can be no ambiguity
caused by omitting a digit, and use no numbers
that can be misread if they are donned upside-
down.
See Fig 3: Number Placard.
See Fig 4: Enrollment Form
See Fig 5: Route Sheet Form
See Fig 6: Time Trial Results Form
See Fig 7: Cycling Proficiency Score Sheet 1
See Fig 8: Cycling Proficiency Score Sheet 2
10 TEACHING THE ADULT
COURSE
COURSE OUTLINE
This is based on the course that is described and
outlined in Appendices A and B of Effective
Cycling. These have proved to be very practical
and their use is recommended whenever the cir-
cumstances allow.
10.1 SESSION 1
10.1.1 SESSION 1 PREPARATION
No route sheets. Select general area for first
33
ride on quiet, flat residential streets that are easily
reached from class. Plan for many turns for prac-
tice, but plan to simply select the route as you go.
1: If you operate your own course, get enrollment
forms and liability releases.
2: Make sure that you have your dual-valve pump
for pumping students’ tires.
3: Get spare shorts to show chamois lining.
4: Carry full touring tool kit on all class trips, and
several rags.
5: Carry copies of Effective Cycling for sale to stu-
dents if this is the normal method of supply,
and carry change.
6: Get keys for classroom if required.
7: Review the objectives of the course and bicycle
inspection.
10.1.2 SESSION 1 LECTURE
Classroom approx 2 hours, ride approx 1 hour.
10.1.2.1 Describe The Course
The objective of the first session is to get the
class started. Inform the students of what the
class will be like, the amounts of work it involves,
and how you will conduct it. In most classes stu-
dents have the chance to withdraw, and other pro-
spective students may be present who will join if
you can interest them. It is important to be fair and
accurate, and this involves some prediction. Many
students are apprehensive about the distances to
be ridden. To them, 15 miles sounds like an all-
day trip. Do not emphasize that trips will be of X
miles, because they have no way of knowing how
easy X miles is, unless they are already experi-
enced cyclists. Point out instead that the trips will
fit the class ability and will take the time allowed
for the class, except for the one longer trip for
which they will carry lunch. Try to size up the class
and adjust your ride plans to the kinds of rides you
think they will be doing. Point out also that every-
body will be able to travel at his own pace
because on longer trips you supply route sheets,
and explain how you and your assistant share the
load so that those behind are also looked after.
Emphasize that this is not a course in any particu-
lar type of cycling, but will cover all the basics with
emphasis on the type of cycling the students want
to do. (That is, unless you have already
announced this as, for example, a racing training
course or a round-the-town utility course.)
Explain that students need a few tools to do
repairs while on the road, and to maintain their
bicycles at home. This will require a few dollars,
but it is much cheaper and much more satisfactory
 34

Fig 3:Number Placard

 35

EFFECTIVE CYCLING Enrollment Form and Liability Release

I wish to enroll myself or my minor child in the Effective Cycling Course of the level indicated below,

to be taught by ________________________________

under the sponsorship of ________________________________________ organization,

from (date)__________ to (date)________ on___________ days at ________ hours,

at (location)___________________________________. Course fee is $______.

Beginning level______ Intermediate level______ Adult level______

The instructor will teach Effective Cycling at the level indicated in accordance with the curriculum of the Bicycle
Transportation Engineering Group, the most effective and generally safest techniques of cycling that are known.
At the Adult level the instruction will include practice in traffic cycling, fast descents, fast maneuvering and quickest
stops in order to develop the competence that is necessary for safe cycling. It will also include how to look after
yourself and your bike, how to develop your physical speed and endurance, and the enjoyment of cycling with a
sociable group over pleasant roads. The Intermediate level short course concentrates on the traffic cycling tech-
nique that is necessary for safe cycling around town by upper-elementary and middle-school students. The Begin-
ning level short course is suitable for lower-elementary students (3rd grade) and concentrates solely on
elementary traffic cycling technique that is necessary for cycling in easy or moderate traffic as students of that age
can understand it.
Students with medical problems that may be aggravated by exertion, or with hip, knee, or ankle problems, are
advised to consult their physician before intensifying their cycling.
The undersigned participant or guardian recognizes that cycling is not an absolutely safe sport or transportation
mode, and that accidents may occur despite all reasonable care on the part of both instructor and student. Both
student and instructor, on behalf of themselves, their heirs, and assigns, hereby release each other, the Bicycle
Transportation Engineering Group, and any other sponsoring organization from any and all claims resulting from
damage to property, or injury, or death during the class.

Student name _________________________Telephone _______________________

Address ______________________________Age, if under 18 ________________

_________________________________Date ____________________________

_________________________________

Signatures: Student ______________________Parent or Guardian ______________

Instructor name _________________________Telephone _______________________

Instructor address _______________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

Instructor signature _______________________________________________________

Fig 4:Enrollment Form and Liability Release

 36

COURSE

Total Miles
TURN
Leg
ON TO
Miles RL NS
SU EW

Fig 5:Route Sheet Form

 37

COURSE Miles

CONDITIONS Date

Pers
Start Start Finish Riding Prev.
Name Place Best
Order Time Time Time Time
Time

Fig 6:Time Trial Results Form

 38

FORESTER CYCLING PROFICIENCY SCORE SHEET

Copyright John Forester 1981, 1986, 1999, 2008 Page 1 of 2

Group # Cyclist #

Name Date

Address Test Place

Examiner Scorer

Total Poss. Total Lost Score (100(P - L)/P

TRAFFIC SIGNAL +5 BEING OVERTAKEN +10

Wrong Action -5 Too Far Left -8

STOP SIGN +5 Too Far Right -4

Too Fast -2 OVERTAKING +10

Not Looking -4 Swerving -4

Not Yielding -4 No Look B4 Swerve -8

EXIT DRIVEWAY +5 Cut Off Slow Driver -5

Too Fast -4 RIGHT TURN +5

Not Looking -4 Wrong Lane -2

Not Yielding -4 Not Yielding -5

RIGHT TURN ONLY +10 Not Looking Left -4

Straight from RTOL -8 LEFT TURN +15

Swerving Out -8 Wrong Start Position -12

INTERSECTN APPRCH+10 Not Looking -10

R-Side R-Turn-Car -8 Not Yielding -15

R-Side Moving Car -4 No Stop in Ped Turn -15

Too Far Right -4 End in Wrong Lane -5

Too Far Left -4 MULTI L-TURN LANES +10

PARKED CAR +10 Wrong Lane Choice -7

Swerving -8 Wrong Side of Lane -4

Too Far Out -2 CHANGING LANES +15

Too Close -6 Not Looking -8

No Return When Req -2 Not Yielding -12

Return When Not Req -4 Too Many Lanes -5

Fig 7:
 39

FORESTER CYCLING PROFICIENCY SCORE SHEET Page 2 of 2

GROUP# CYCLIST #

MERGE +15 PEDALLING +5

Incorrect Path -8 Slow Cadence -2

Not Yielding -12 Stiff Ankling -2

DIVERGE +15 SHIFTING +5

Incorrect Path -8 Too Slow on HIlls -2

Not Looking -8 Too Slow in Traffic -2

Not Yielding -12 PANIC STOP +20

GROUP RIDING +15 Rear Wheel Skid -5

Overlap -5 Lift Rear Wheel -15

Too Far Behind -2 Skid & Fall -15

Not Indicating Rock -2 INSTANT TURN +20

Not Indicating Slow -5 Too Wide -5

Swerving -8 Too Slow -10

WIDE TO NARROW +5 ROAD DEFECT +20

Swerving -6 Incorrect Action -10

No Look or Yield -4 WIND BLAST +20

OFF-ON ROADWAY +15 Too Much Wobble -10

Bad Choice of Place -2 AV’D MOT @STP SIGN+20

Too Fast Return -8 Incorrect -10

Not Looking -8 AV’D MOT MERGE +20

Not Yielding -8 Incorrect -10

Not Perpendicular -10 AV’D MOT RIGHT TURN+20

DIAG. RR TRACKS +15 Incorrect -10

Not Looking -12 AV’D MOT LEFT TURN+20

Not Yielding -12 Incorrect -10

Not Perpendicular -10

POSTURE +5

Wrong Saddle Height-2

Wrong Foot Position -2

Fig 8:Cycling Proficiency Score Sheet page 2


than getting a shop to do it. Explain that home-
work is expected. There are three kinds of home-
work.
1: The first is conventional reading assignments.
Students are expected to have read the material
before class so that they are prepared to learn
more of what you present, and to ask questions
which will clear up their difficulties.
2: The second is mechanical work on their own
bicycles. Students are required to keep their bicy-
cles in safe operating condition, and are advised
to keep them in efficient operating condition. This
does not usually require much effort; perhaps half
an hour per week average.
Many students find that they wish to improve
their bicycles and to add or change equipment as
they find out what they really want, so each stu-
dent should not be surprised if this happens to
him or her.
3: The third type of homework is additional
cycling. Skills cannot be developed unless they
are practiced, and physical condition does not
improve on one morning of exercise per week.
Students should ride at least three times per
week, never having more than two non-cycling
days in succession. Cycling is meant to be a fun
course because cycling is an elective and seduc-
tive sport. Therefore, those who get seduced into
cycling more and cycling harder get the most fun
from the course and are best prepared to really
enjoy cycling later. So the course will be slanted
somewhat toward those who are having most fun,
and the student who does no extra cycling will find
the trips harder than the others find them.
10.1.2.2 Enroll The Class
Having described the course, enroll those
who wish to participate. If you are teaching for a
school or college, this will be mostly done for you.
Just follow the established procedures. If you are
teaching on your own, have each student fill out
the enrollment form and liability release, collect
fees and sell textbooks.
10.1.2.3 Equipment Demonstration
Show the required tools. (Listed in Effective
Cycling Chap 2.) Make sure that students under-
stand that these are necessary to keep their bikes
going, and what each tool is for. You cannot show
the method of use for each in the time you have in
this session, but you can generally apply the tool
to the bike part to show what it fits.
Show the optional tools. Point out that many
of these need not be obtained until the student
40
needs to do the job that each is used for.
Show cycling shorts (turn them inside-out to
show the chamois or other liner), gloves, trouser
bands and cycling shoes with and without foot
retaining devices. Point out that these are the
standard types of cycling clothing that have been
developed over the years as best for the purpose.
If the student wishes to buy clothing for cycling he
is best advised to buy this type of clothing first,
and to experiment later. Point out that gloves are
also protective equipment, because they protect
the nerves in the hands from handlebar pressure
(to some extent) and protect the palms if the
cyclist falls onto the road.
Demonstrate the hard-shell helmet that is
lined with crushable foam and meets the ANSI
Z90 standard. Point out that 75% of cyclists who
die in cycling accidents die of brain injuries that
are mostly caused by the head hitting the road at
the end of the accident events. The hardshell hel-
met enables the cyclist to survive most of these,
so it is the best insurance the cyclist can buy.
10.1.2.4 Bicycle Inspection
Have each student inspect his own bicycle
as you demonstrate the inspection steps with your
own bike. Inspect for: wheel truth and alignment;
wheel bearing adjustment; axle nut or quick-
release tightness; crank to axle rigidity; bottom
bracket bearing adjustment; pedal bearing adjust-
ment; headset bearing adjustment; handlebar,
stem and saddle clamps tightness; basic brake
test. Ask if there are any gear troubles. Check tire
pressures with thumb.
If any trouble makes a bicycle unsafe to ride
in class, either repair it, warn the student how to
avoid the danger, or prohibit its use in class until
repaired.
Reject coaster-braked bicycles from partici-
pation after this week. The coaster brake makes it
impossible to start and stop properly and is
unhandy in traffic. Reject most single-speed bicy-
cles because they will be ridden by people who
are too weak to keep up with the class when lim-
ited by this equipment, but accept the already-
strong rider who rides fixed gear from choice.
Instruct the students with rejected bicycles to
plan to get better bicycles this week, preferably
loaners so they can acquire more cycling experi-
ence before buying bicycles that suit them.
10.1.2.5 Establish The Pump Policy
Students who cannot pump their tires to the
proper pressure at any time, especially when this

is required during a ride, unjustifiably interrupt
class procedures (as well as causing themselves
extra trouble). Therefore, every student shall have
a pump. Furthermore, all users of Schrader valves
shall use push-on, lever-lock pumps like the Zefal
HP. Make this quite clear, to prevent later trouble.
10.1.2.6 Cyclist Posture
Demonstrate proper cyclist posture and bicy-
cle adjustment: frame size selection, saddle
height, saddle forward movement, handlebar
height and angle, the availability of stems with dif-
ferent forward reaches and heights. Discuss the
advantages of the sporting-type bicycle with 10 or
more speeds and dropped handlebars. Warn
against the disadvantages of mountain bicycles
and recumbent bicycles for normal use (mountain
bikes don't have dropped bars or foot retaining
devices, recumbents are hard to start and to get
up hills). Find a place where the students can sit
on their bicycles while leaning up against a wall.
Check their posture while they lean against the
wall.
10.1.2.7 The Five Basic Traffic-Cycling Principles
Discuss the five basic traffic-cycling princi-
ples. Talk about cyclists using the road, using your
own experiences and local situations as exam-
ples. This has two purposes: to give the students
some idea of how you want them to operate and to
give them some confidence that cyclists should
use the road.
10.1.3 SESSION 1 RIDE
1 hour, approx.
This ride is to size up the new students and
evaluate their present proficiency. You are evaluat-
ing both their traffic proficiency and their speed. In
addition, note the types of foot-retaining devices
used (if any), and whether any students are hav-
ing difficulty with theirs.
Assume that some students (unless it obvi-
ously isn't so) do not know the correct way to start
and stop a bicycle. Demonstrate from a straddle
position. To start: pedal up; stand on it and coast;
crotch back over saddle; sit down; other foot on
pedal; turn the pedals. To stop: slow down with the
brakes; one foot free and forward; crotch off sad-
dle, forward, and down over the top tube; slow to a
halt; just before stopping, turn front wheel away
from free foot; bicycle stops, leans toward the free
foot, which you put on the ground.
It sounds silly to go into this detail, but it is
useful. Many Americans do not realize that the
41
reason that the saddle is higher than the top tube
is to enable you to sit high enough to pedal prop-
erly and still be able to lower your crotch in front of
the saddle for stopping and starting. So they resist
proper posture because they think that they must
start and stop while sitting. Five minutes of dem-
onstration before the group starts off is worth
more than one hour of cajolery while riding.
This is an example of how to teach every-
thing in the course. Give it step by step, explaining
both how and why. But don't act like a professor
teaching something difficult. Cycling is mostly
common sense, and most students think that they
know it, even if they don't. So you show how easy
it is once shown how. Demonstrate always, even if
you say: "I know you all do this, but have you
thought why you do it (or why bicycles are built
this way)?" Then you are not talking down to them,
but showing what the group will do together and
explaining why it is the best way to do it.
This ride is to size up the new students and
evaluate their present proficiency. You are evaluat-
ing both traffic proficiency and speed. Start slowly.
On this ride never let the group get separated by
more than one block. Move out slowly on residen-
tial streets, watching carefully. Lead off for a while
to get the group moving. Turn onto a street they
can follow, tell the leaders where to stop, and drop
back to the tail. Go forward and back along the
line to observe all students. Observe for any dan-
gerous deficiencies, and, if seen, correct immedi-
ately. Keep regrouping, keep talking, to give
confidence to those who need it. Watch each stu-
dent in turn for proper posture and bicycle adjust-
ment. Advise those who need to readjust some
item to do it during the coming week.
If the students show sufficient ability, as they
probably will, move onto streets with a little more
traffic and increase the speed to see how well the
slower riders move. Remember what you observe
to use in planning next week's ride.
10.2 SESSION 2
10.2.1 SESSION 2 PREPARATION
10.2.1.1 Tire Repair
Prepare tire repair demonstration package
consisting of: 1 tube, deliberately punctured with a
hole sufficiently large to find easily; abrasive cloth;
patch cement (rubber cement); patches; tire irons;
wrench, if you don't have quick release hubs; tire
boot; boot cement (neoprene contact cement).

10.2.1.2 Demonstration Equipment
Take demonstration section of rim with permanent
rim tape and valve hole fillets.
10.2.1.3 Review
Review Whys and Wisdom of Traffic Law,
(Effective Cycling Chapter 27) and, if you have it,
Systematic Traffic Law (Bicycle Transportation,
Chapter 1).
10.2.1.4 The Stop-Sign Problem
In both lecture and ride you will be facing the
stop-sign problem. Effective Cycling instruction
about stop signs arouses lots of controversy that
you must be ready to face. Review the discussion
of stop signs in Chapter 12.
10.2.1.5 Rear-View Mirrors
Consider also the problem of rear view mir-
rors and prepare your discussion. Refer to the dis-
cussion of mirrors in Chapter 13.
10.2.1.6 Route Selection
Review your memories of the students in the
class to adjust ride distance, speed and route. You
want to teach basic traffic maneuvers as done on
two-lane residential streets. That is, starting and
stopping, straight riding, leaving driveways and
approaching stop signs, overtaking other cyclists,
right turns and left turns.
For this ride do not preselect a route unless
you must travel to the riding area. Just select a
residential area which has many two-lane, lightly
travelled streets with some stop signs available.
You will zigzag around this area while practicing
each maneuver as much as appears necessary,
so you will be making whichever turns appear suit-
able at the time.
Zigzagging about and going round and round
in circles doesn't offer much sense of accomplish-
ment to cyclists, so select a fun route with little
traffic (meaning all kinds of traffic: motor traffic,
pedestrian traffic and playing children) to finish the
ride with. Plan to use as much of this route as you
have time for after achieving a reasonable level of
competence in the traffic maneuvers; not an
expert level, just the basic minimum for operating
on residential streets.
10.2.2 SESSION 2 LECTURE
Lecture 1.5 hours.
10.2.2.1 Tire Repair
Demonstrate removing a wheel, dismounting
42
casing, removing tube, looking for puncturing
object. Show permanent rim tape and silicone
rubber around valve hole. Then remount (suppos-
edly new) tube and casing, inflating tire, inspecting
for proper mounting, and reinstalling wheel. Dis-
cuss advantages of pure hook-bead rims, molded
valve stems. Then demonstrate patching of pre-
punctured tube. Describe booting, showing pre-
pared boot and bottle of contact cement.
Emphasize these points. Squeeze tire beads
into well all the way around. The first section to be
dismounted is the 4 inches at the valve.
Resqueeze beads into the well after the first tire
iron is inserted. Search by feel and eye for punc-
turing object, and use position of hole in tube (if
found) to assist in locating the object. Don't let dirt
or gravel get inside casing or on tube; keep tube
off ground. Return rim strip to proper location and
tightness, if not using permanent rim tape.
Emphasize advantages of permanent rim
tape and silicone rubber around valve hole. Last
portion of tire bead to be mounted is the 4 inches
at the valve; first off, last on. To get last 4 inches
over rim, squeeze beads all around into well, just
like after inserting first tire iron when dismounting,
and for the same reason. Don't use tire irons
unless you have very weak fingers. Replace wheel
correctly with adequate clamping force on lever or
wrench.
10.2.2.2 Tire Pump
Demonstrate use of tire pump. Demonstrate
weak person's use of knee to push pump to high
pressure. Left hand holds pump on valve, left thigh
supports left wrist; right hand holds pump handle,
right knee pushes against right wrist. Disassemble
pump to show how to inspect and replace pump
leather washer, and to check for washer nut tight-
ness. Proper lubricant is castor oil, not mineral oil;
proper softening agent is a little neatsfoot oil
rubbed well in. Demonstrate pump test. Close
pump outlet with finger. Pump should hold pres-
sure when pushed in. Then gently push pump
handle in and release. The trapped air inside
should return pump handle almost to the starting
position, demonstrating that the washer seals with
little air pressure. Gently pull the handle out.
When released, the handle should not move in,
demonstrating that the washer is sufficiently flexi-
ble to admit air under little vacuum. Tell how to
refix end fittings on hose, wrapping with thread to
clamp hose on fittings.
10.2.2.3 Bike Stands

Discuss bike stands: handlebar stands,
hanging the bicycle from ceiling or from stand,
bipod stands under bottom bracket. Emphasize
that hanging up the bicycle provides safer storage
and that all cyclists need a stand for adjusting
derailleurs or trueing wheels.
10.2.2.4 Posture
If necessary, repeat the information on proper
posture and pedalling action.
10.2.2.5 The Five Principles, and Whys And Wis-
dom Of Traffic Law
Discuss each paragraph in these sections of
Effective Cycling. Emphasize the concept that
these are not arbitrary rules but are the result of
years of experience with safe and efficient meth-
ods of traffic flow. It doesn't matter what kind of
vehicle is considered, or whether it runs on gra-
nola or gasoline. All drivers must obey the same
rules or there will be conflict.
There are only two classes of person in the rules
of the road: drivers and pedestrians.
Cyclists are the only drivers who have the
choice, but they cannot safely combine both roles.
They must absolutely be either drivers or pedestri-
ans at any one time, for to act like a pedestrian on
the roadway, or to act like a driver on the sidewalk
or in crosswalks, is extremely dangerous. Answer
any suggestions that cyclists' slow speed, fragility
or immaturity demand different rules as follows:
Low speed requires that the cyclist obey the slow
vehicle rules, or get on the sidewalk and obey the
pedestrian rules at walking speed. Fragility
demands that the cyclist stay out of accidents, and
since the driving rules are the safest rules that we
know he should obey them very exactly. Immatu-
rity due to youth demands that the cyclist still obey
either the pedestrian or the vehicular rules,
depending on the traffic conditions, and that the
young cyclist should be more likely to decide to be
a pedestrian under given conditions. Immaturity
due to false training, like the present students
have all had before this, demands that they learn
how to ride properly as drivers of vehicles to be
safe, because they are too old to choose to ride as
pedestrians on sidewalks at walking speed.
10.2.3 SESSION 2 RIDE
1.5 hours approx.
Starting and stopping should be a review,
done only if necessary. Normal residential street
straight riding should require little instruction
except not to dodge in and out between parked
43
cars. Absolutely prohibit wrong-way riding.
10.2.3.1 Stop Signs
Remember the discussion of the stop-sign
problem in the review section. Therefore, empha-
size the skill to determine those intersections and
situations at which the cyclist should yield, and the
skill of yielding. And emphasize that the traffic that
has priority consists of all traffic, both motorist and
pedestrian, so that the action of yielding must start
at the place where pedestrians, if present, will
cross. If students choose to come to a full stop
behind the stop or crosswalk line, even when there
is no traffic, do not criticize them for doing it, but
point out that it is not a safety-related requirement.
10.2.3.2 Ride In A Straight Line
Each cyclist should ride in a straight line. A
deviation that is so slow and gentle that other driv-
ers can easily see and avoid it is all that is permit-
ted without first looking over one's shoulder and
yielding to overtaking traffic.
10.2.3.3 Overtaking
Overtake slower drivers normally on their
left. At this stage, most of these will be cyclists.
Since they are required to maintain a straight line
unless they first look and yield, it is unnecessary
for the faster driver to tell the slower driver that he
is overtaking "on your left" or "on your right." Too
frequently, these words cause the cyclist ahead to
move to the side mentioned, with disastrous
results.
10.2.3.4 Right Turns
Right turns are easy; I've never met prob-
lems except with other cyclists. Emphasize the
right arm, right turn signal to alert the other
cyclists when riding in a group.
10.2.3.5 Left Turns
For left turns, look behind, merge left to cen-
ter if no faster traffic is coming (either cyclist or
motorist). Start to merge over half a block before
the turn. This normally requires instruction and
review later. Tell, demonstrate, lead one or two
turns, then drop to the rear and observe the stu-
dents making a series of left turns. They are not
correct unless they turn their heads far enough to
see you, and for you to see their faces. With
beginners, and even with supposedly experienced
cyclists, this will require review in a later week
because they will be slow in learning to ride
straight while looking behind.

10.2.3.6 Rear-View Mirrors
Prohibit rear view mirrors during class. Since
this is controversial, base your response on the
position discussed in Chapter 12.
10.2.3.7 Ride Instructions
Keep the group together. Stop frequently
whenever desirable for either instruction, evalua-
tion (that is, friendly criticism), or regrouping.
Observe and advise students and answer
questions on posture, pedal cadence, shoes,
clothes, gear operation, etc. This will be slow,
easy riding, so emphasize use of middle gears to
keep up cadence, which loosens up legs, keeps a
good reserve of acceleration, and trains for faster
riding.
Ride yourself at 90 to 100 rpm cadence to
encourage them to imitate you. If students ask
questions about matters to be taught later in the
course, never be reluctant to say that you will talk
about that later. You don't have sufficient time to
duplicate your presentations, and in any case they
will be better understood when presented with the
proper
preparation.
10.3 SESSION 3
10.3.1 SESSION 3 PREPARATION
10.3.1.1 Tools
1: Get tools for brake adjustment and mainte-
nance:
2: Third hand (string type OK)
3: Socket wrenches; 8, 9, 10, 11mm with handle
4: Brake positioning wrenches: 10, 11mm thin
wrenches (similar to cone wrenches)
5: Hex keys: 5mm, 6mm
6: Adjustable wrench, 4"
7: Pliers, small
8: Grease, small can or jar
9: Cable cutters are optional.
10.3.1.2 Supplies
1: Map measurer for ride planning, from outdoor
supply store or map shop
2: Route sheet master forms (copied from Fig.
8.8), sufficient for the rest of the course
10.3.1.3 Review
Review the following: Effective Cycling:
1: Chapter 4, Brakes.
2: Chapter 28, Cycling Accidents,
3: Chapter 29, Where To Ride On The Road Effec-
44
tive Cycling Instructor's Manual:
4: Chapter 3, Accident Statistics Bicycle Transpor-
tation
5: Chapter 5, Accidents (optional)
10.3.1.4 Ride Planning
This is the first club-type ride of the course. It has
three purposes:
1: To instruct where to ride on roads of different
widths
2: To develop strength and endurance
3: To develop cycling enjoyment in students
Select a route for a 1.5 hour ride. It should
have roads of different widths, not much climbing,
and not involve left turns in heavy traffic. Straight
riding and right turns in heavy traffic are accept-
able if there is a wide outside lane. Include in the
route several right-turn-only lanes at which the
route goes straight, and at least one at which it
goes right. Places where the outside lane narrows
are useful.
Stay off narrow roads with heavy and fast
traffic. Try to provide two sections of route which
continue on one road for some distance so that
even students unsure of the route may ride unac-
companied as fast as they like without fear of get-
ting lost.
By now you should have a better idea of the
speed and endurance of the class, so lay out a
route on which they must keep moving steadily to
finish in time. Appropriate distances may be 12
miles for weak beginners, 15 for non-club cyclists,
20-25 for club cyclists.
Copy the route onto a route sheet form and
make one copy for each student and staff mem-
ber.
10.3.2 SESSION 3 LECTURE
1.5 hours
10.3.2.1 Brake Adjustment And Maintenance
Discuss caliper rim brakes only. If anyone
shows up with stirrup rim brakes or drum or disc
brakes and doesn't know how to maintain them,
work with him after class.
Ask if any students want their brakes
adjusted. Select both a sidepull and a centerpull
brake. Each must have sufficient free end of the
inner wire to be able to grip the end, and prefera-
bly has the cable end soldered, or at least not
frayed, so it can be disassembled and then reth-
readed through the fittings. If the inner wire has a
frayed end, do not disassemble it from the anchor

bolt; if it has too short a free end to grip, do not
loosen the anchor bolt. Demonstrate the adjust-
ment of the sidepull first, then the centerpull.
If the inner cable end is not frayed, loosen
the anchor bolt and pull the inner wire out of its
housing. Explain how to inspect for wear at the
lever, the brake adjusting barrel, and all cable
stops. Instruct to replace the inner wire if any
strands are broken. Grease the inner wire and
reassemble (except no lubrication for plastic-lined
housing). Adjust in accordance with Effective
Cycling Chapter 4, Brake Adjustment. Perform
basic brake test to demonstrate that the work is
satisfactory.
Explain how to solder the inner wire and cut
to length at the soldered point to prevent fraying.
Discuss brake types in accordance with the
discussion in Effective Cycling. The reason that
centerpulls will not follow a bent rim when applied
is that there is too much friction between the hook
and the bridge wire to allow the motion. Empha-
size that for brakes as well as for other cycling
equipment, much of what has been written is
superstition. The only real operating difference
between sidepulls and centerpulls is that center-
pulls require a little less hand strength but have a
softer feel, while sidepulls have a more solid feel.
Since, for most people on solo bikes, the ability to
slightly release brakes when they are too firmly
applied is more important that the ability to apply
them too firmly with little effort, the sidepull brake
provides better control.
For replacement cables recommend plastic-
lined housing (slippery cable), because by reduc-
ing friction it both increases the force available
and improves the delicacy of control. Point out that
if you strip off the plastic jacket for 1/8" from each
end, the slippery cable housing is the same diam-
eter as the normal housing, so that special end fit-
tings are not necessary.
10.3.2.2 Discuss Cycling Accidents
This discussion is not intended to frighten the
students into good cycling behavior; they have
been subjected to far too much of this already and
that is one reason why their cycling is so danger-
ous. Rather, this discussion has two main pur-
poses: to give the students a true understanding
of the accident facts (instead of the superstitious
nonsense that they have been told) and thereby to
give them confidence and an incentive to properly
develop their skills. To achieve these purposes,
you must make several points:
1: Most accidents to cyclists are not car-bike colli-
45
sions. Discuss the types and proportions of
accidents to cyclists. Discuss some of the
truths that contradict the cyclist inferiority
superstition: bike paths are the most danger-
ous facilities, cycling to work is the safest
cycling known, riding among dogs and pedes-
trians is far more dangerous than riding in
motor traffic.
2: Extremely few car-bike collisions fit the super-
stitious description of a well-behaved cyclist
being hit from behind merely because he is
using the road. Most car-bike collisions occur
from ahead of the cyclist, match those that
occur between motor vehicles, and can be
explained as recognized forms of driver error
in failing to obey the rules of the road.
3: Discuss the types and proportions of car-bike
collisions, For additional information, refer to
Table 3.1.
4: Most accidents to cyclists can be avoided by
the cyclist. Cyclists without special training
learn to avoid the major causes of car-bike
collision, as shown by Fig. 3.1.
5: Club cyclists avoid 80% of the accidents that
affect most adult cyclists (Effective Cycling,
Chapter 28).
6: Cyclist skill is by far the most important factor in
having a low accident rate.
7: The safe-cycling portion of the Effective Cycling
Program is a proper, well-planned safety pro-
gram because it assigns emphasis in accor-
dance with the relative frequency of accident
types and it provides effective accident pre-
vention methods in accordance with recog-
nized driving and traffic principles and the
skills of expert cyclists.
10.3.2.3 Where To Ride On The Road
This is basic riding technique which you
should know by heart and habit. Discuss in the
sequence that is presented in Effective Cycling,
Chapter 29.
10.3.3 SESSION 3 RIDE
1.5 hours
This ride is the first that is anything like a club
ride. Most likely, the locations for instruction
(today, changes in roadway width) will be scat-
tered along the whole length of the ride. With the
pre-planned route you know where these are. At
the start, outline the route. Where the route takes
many turns or where you plan to demonstrate
techniques, let the students travel as fast as they
like to a recognized point. If you stay in front, you

may stop to regroup at will, but if you may not stay
in front (and a simple problem with any student
can cause you to fall behind the leaders), pre-
assign a regrouping location. This should be
before any hard-to-follow turns or difficult traffic
locations.
Your assistant should plan to be last unless
some student deliberately drops behind or turns
for home. (You don't have to be first and your
assistant last all the time. By agreement you can
exchange places, particularly when you want to
either observe or instruct those who normally ride
toward the tail.)
As you ride, observe as many of the students
as you can see, and observe the traffic situations
that occur. Whenever there is some cycling tech-
nique or problem that is worth discussing, plan to
speak on it. If it affects only one student, tell him
as you ride. If it affects several, or can be used as
an example to instruct others, discuss it at a
regrouping point. If it is immediately important, of
if it refers to a particular traffic situation that just
happened, stop the group for discussion at this
time.
Your instruction should be about double what
you had planned to teach. The other half will come
from seizing examples that occur during the ride.
For example, you are cycling on a wide boulevard
and, just ahead of the students, a motorist sticks
his nose far out beyond the stop sign to the edge
of the motor traffic. Probably, there will be no colli-
sion, but the students may stop, or swing wide
without looking behind, or attempt to go behind
him. Use this experience to demonstrate the need
for watching for the expected hazards, the method
of riding close to the cars that minimizes this haz-
ard, and the immediate look over the left shoulder
to determine how much clearance exists in which
to move left to avoid it.
When you reach a route section with 1 or 2
miles of easy-to-follow route with little likelihood of
instructional opportunities, establish the next
regrouping point 1 or 2 miles away, tell those stu-
dents in the lead to stop there, and encourage
everybody to ride to that point as fast as they can.
You also; you, too, need the exercise and the
enjoyment. When you reach the regrouping point,
pass the time until the rear catches up by giving
instructions suitable for the faster students (who
are probably also the most advanced). There's
always plenty to talk about; the problem is limiting
the amount of talk.
10.3.3.1 Instructional Ride Philosophy
46
This combination of demonstration, instruc-
tion, group riding and speed training is the basic
routing for class rides.
The unplanned instruction is fully as impor-
tant as the pre-planned instruction. Seize every
opportunity to instruct. This is one reason why
instructors must be experienced cyclists. The
instructor cannot expect to do a good job if he
depends on weekly preparation to provide his
knowledge. This preparation gets only the equip-
ment ready and lists the items that must be cov-
ered; it cannot provide the basic cycling
knowledge which unforeseen events make neces-
sary each week. The instructor must have not
merely the ability to operate properly himself, but
he must have the ability to observe student defi-
ciencies and explain to students how to correct
them. The instructor should look on himself not
merely as a teacher but also as a coach and as a
leader in a group activity.
10.4 SESSION 4
10.4.1 SESSION 4 PREPARATION
Tools
1: Touring oil can (squeeze bottle with pointed tip
that can be closed), filled with SAE 90 oil.
2: Chain lubricant: SAE 90 oil and paraffin wax,
equal proportions, in sufficient white gas to
dissolve wax, in small jar, or your choice of
chain lubricant.
Kerosene, small jar
3: Paint brush, old, 1" wide, for applying kerosene
and chain lubricant
4: Grease, small can
5: Cleaning rags and a newspaper
6: Tools for derailleur adjustment: 8mm socket, 5
& 6mm hex keys, screwdriver with 1/8" blade
for derailleur stop screws, stubby screwdriver
with 1/4" blade for lever friction adjustment.
7: Bicycle stand to keep rear wheel clear of
ground during derailleur adjustment. If one
isn't available at the classroom, carry the fold-
ing one that is described under equipment.
8: String, about 3 feet, for showing where steering
axis hits ground.
9: Soft plastic foam, 2 chunks about 3" cube, for
rock dodging
10.4.1.1 Equipment
Since you are going to demonstrate oiling a bicy-
cle, it is better if your own bicycle has oil
holes, as described in Effective Cycling Chapter
10.

10.4.1.1 Review
Review the following: Effective Cycling:
1: Chapter 10, Cleaning and Lubrication
2: Chapter 14, Derailleur Adjustment
3: Chapter 3, Steering
4: Chapter 23, Emergency Maneuvers
5: Practice your instant turns, rock dodges and
panic stop s.
6: Practice the front-brake-only demonstration.
For this ride slowly, 3mph or so. Jam on the
front brake to almost stop. Speed up to 3 mph
again and try harder. Keep increasing the brake
force until you lift the rear wheel. The moment it
lifts, release the brake. Do not try this while mov-
ing fast, because you will go over too quickly to
release in time.
10.4.1.2 Ride Planning
Locate a playground or parking lot on which
you can practice rock dodging, instant turns and
panic stops. You need at least the space of 3 bas-
ketball courts, and you need almost sole use of it.
Lay out a route from class to parking lot and then
5 miles along an arterial street with right-turn-only
lanes and, if possible, a freeway overcrossing with
on and off ramps.
10.4.2 SESSION 4 LECTURE
About 1:15 to 1:30
10.4.2.1 Cleaning And Lubrication
Give a practical demonstration of the weekly
and monthly operations for cleaning and lubricat-
ing a bike. Don't do all the work, but demonstrate
each technique and indicate all the parts to which
it applies.
Explain the difference between what you do
at home, with a bike stand, plenty of solvent,
newspapers or metal pans, lots of rags and spe-
cial lubricants, and what you do on tour with only
an oil can and a rag. Emphasize the difference
between oiling a little to replenish the oil and oiling
a lot to wash out water and grit. Explain how to oil
the freewheel while it is on the bike by laying the
bike on its side and applying oil to the gap around
the adjustable cone. Also describe how to remove,
clean, oil and replace the freewheel or cassette at
home.
Most students will have grease-lubricated
hubs and bottom brackets, and all will have
grease-lubricated headsets. However, there is
likely to be a mix of cup-and-cone bearings that
need lubrication, while others will be cartridge
47
bearings that don’t require lubrication. Based on
the mix, decide on how much instruction you will
give next session about servicing cup-and-cone
bearings. If you decide to cover cup-and-cone
bearings, explain that grease-lubricated bearings
must be disassembled, the parts cleaned,
greased, and reassembled to remove grit and to
renew the lubricant. Say that this process will be
covered in the next session.
10.4.2.2 Derailleur Adjustment
Ask if any student has derailleur adjustment
problems, and if so demonstrate on that bike
(unless) it looks too battered to be merely an
adjustment problem).
Set the bike on the stand. Demonstrate set-
ting the lever friction. Demonstrate setting the rear
derailleur travel limits. Explain that each bike
requires a different setting and that old chains
require more travel than new chains. The chain
must quickly reach each end sprocket, but it must
not be permitted to go off either end of the cluster.
Therefore, the travel limit screws are placed where
they are easy to reach and adjust. Demonstrate
setting the front derailleur travel limit screws (don't
get involved with the old Simplex push/pull front
derailleurs). Get fast shifting to maximum cross-
over (big-to-big and small-to-small) but no over-
shift off the chainwheels. Demonstrate moving the
front derailleur lever a little toward the center after
shifting to a maximum crossover gear, until the
chain stops rubbing. Explain that this is normal.
Demonstrate the big-to-big and small-to-
small positions, showing that the rear derailleur
cage should have at least a little free movement
available at both positions, at big-to-big to allow for
the extra chain that is required as it climbs up on
the teeth during shifting, at small-to-small to keep
the chain taut. Explain that this adjustment is usu-
ally made by changing the length of the chain, an
operation that will be covered in session 8.
Explain why it is undesirable to do much riding in
either big-to-big or small-to-small gears.
10.4.2.3 Steering And Handling
Discuss the relationship between head angle
and fork rake that produces the trail distance.
Stretch the string parallel to the head tube to
show where the steering axis hits the ground, and
show that this is forward of the place where the
tire touches the ground. Discuss how the trail
keeps the bike stable by correcting for inadvertent
leans.
Demonstrate, by wheeling a bike with your

hand on only the saddle, how leaning steers it.
Discuss the characteristics of bikes with longer
trail and those of bikes with shorter trail.
10.4.2.4 Rock Dodging And Instant Turns
Move next to a post or other object that can
support you, and mount your bike facing the class.
Demonstrate straight-ahead position with
bike vertical. Say that in this position the bike is
stable; that is, it corrects its own errors if you relax
to let it do so. If it starts to fall over to one side, it
steers to that side until the wheels are directly
under you again. Demonstrate the position during
a turn with the wheel turned and the bike leaned
over. Say that in this position also the bike is sta-
ble; more lean and it steers a sharper curve, less
lean and it steers a wider curve. This is keeping its
wheels directly under the apparent vertical, which
is tilted from the true vertical because of the side-
ways acceleration of going around the curve.
Ask the students: "If it is stable in both posi-
tions, how can I get from vertical and straight to
leaned over and turning without something like
this post to push against? Pushing on the air (here
let go of the post and grab wildly at the air for an
instant) doesn't work. So how can I get leaned
over so I can turn?" The answer is that you wait
until the bike starts to fall over to the side to which
you want to turn. Then you cancel the self-correct-
ing action with a minute movement of your hand
so it leans over further and further until it is as far
over as you want. Then you let the wheel turn to
the correct angle. Some student may guess this,
but probably not, so tell them. Now say that wait-
ing for the bike to fall over naturally is fine on a
curving road and gives really smooth turns, but it
takes too long in an emergency, like when that car
on your left turns right.
Then you have to force your bike to lean over
fast. Again ask: "How can I do that?" The answer
is to steer the wrong way so the wheels track out
from under you. To make a right turn you don't
lean by moving your weight sideways to the right,
because there is no physically-possible means of
doing so. Instead, you generate the rightward lean
by making the wheels move to the left. Demon-
strate the front wheel steering motions and simul-
taneously demonstrate the correct lean angles.
Take care to remind them that actually the lean is
produced by wheel movement, not by body push-
ing, but you cannot demonstrate that while not
moving forward.
Tell them that it is not hard to learn instant
turns if they first learn to dodge rocks, something
48
that most of them have some experience of.
Dodging rocks requires three motions. The first is
to swing the front wheel to one side of the rock; for
example, to the left, which causes the bike to lean
rightwards. Then the natural consequence is to
swing the wheel to the right to return to the upright
position, which is followed by returning the wheel
to straight ahead. The instant turn is just half of
this: the first swerve to the left, followed by a
lesser turn to the right that is insufficient to cancel
out the rightward lean. Then the cyclist automati-
cally turns right very quickly.
10.4.2.5 Panic Stops
With a piece of string (the third hand string is
suitable) or a parking brake wedge, lash the front
brake lever to the handlebar tightly enough to lock
the front wheel against normal hand pushing. Hold
your bike crosswise to the class. Show the center
of gravity of bike and rider about 2" in front of the
saddle nose. Demonstrate with hand motions that
the brakes persuade the road to push backwards
at the place where the tire touches the road,
against the momentum of bike and rider pushing
forwards at the center of gravity. Push forwards on
the back of the saddle with the front brake locked
to show how the bike starts to somersault over the
front wheel. Teach that whenever the brakes work
weight is transferred from the back to the front
wheel, and the harder the brakes work the greater
is the transfer. Present the discussion in Effective
Cycling about brake action.
10.4.2.6 Training And Competence
Emphasize that nobody can perform emer-
gency maneuvers (or any other maneuvers) with-
out first learning and then practicing them periodi-
cally. We'll learn on the parking lot, but both panic
stops and instant turns can be practiced on the
road at the appropriate times and places. The
cyclist must periodically do his normal stops and
turns in the emergency way to maintain his ability
to perform them without thinking about it, because
when they are necessary there is no time to think.
10.4.2.7 Review: Where To Ride On The Road
Review intersection straight-through riding
and avoiding right-turn-only lanes and merges in
from the right.
10.4.3 SESSION 4 RIDE
About 1:45
10.4.3.1 Parking Lot Practice

Ride to parking lot.
The first activity is what I call dancing with
the bike. The cyclist rides at medium speed,
maybe 10 mph, along a zig-sag path on each side
of a straight general course. The cyclist makes
wide zig-zag short-radius swoops across the line
and back again, really swinging back and forth
and, naturally, leaning to a steep angle when mak-
ing each turn. This is an exercise in relaxation and
confidence, getting rid of the fear that forcing the
front wheel to turn will dump you. Of course it will
if you don't recover, but the recovery is natural and
effective, and learning that gives confidence. Get
all the students to swoop gracefully. Then they are
ready for rock dodging.
Put one plastic foam block on the ground
near the middle of the area. Demonstrate rock
dodging by riding straight at it, then dodging the
wheels around it at the last possible moment, as if
you had barely seen it in time. Direct the students
to make runs at it dodging first left and later right
(to keep their performance improvement symmet-
rical). Stand near the foam block and criticize and
praise them individually as they perform. Do this
for all maneuvers.
Once they demonstrate a sharp and vigorous
swing and recovery, demonstrate the instant turn
by cancelling the recovery. Have students make
instant turn runs at the block, dodging left and
turning right. Then change to left turns. Some will
get it immediately, others will be stiff and rigid. A
fluid, smooth sequence is important. Then set up
two foam blocks about 10 feet apart to form a stop
line. Demonstrate rear-wheel-only braking, front-
wheel-only braking with rear wheel lift, and safe
maximum braking. Set students up to ride in pairs
toward the stop line (foam blocks), attempting to
stop at the stop line (not quite stop; they must
keep going to clear the area for the following stu-
dents). Get them to practice sprinting for the line
and applying the brakes later and harder, like rac-
ers fighting for position at a turn. Once across the
line, they turn away from each other and ride back
to the rears of the waiting lines, so keeping two cir-
cuits of riders riding constantly in competitive
pairs. Praise and criticize freely, and keep encour-
aging them to use their front brakes harder until
their rear wheels skid. Then instruct them to ease
off the front brake to reduce skidding, or they will
wear through the rear tires in one lesson. If a stu-
dent skids the rear wheel but is not slowing down
sharply, he is using his rear brake too hard.
Instruct him to be gentle with his rear brake but
firm with his front.
49
My students have reported doing 8 miles in
this practice, and it is tiring.
10.4.3.2 Arterial Street Ride
Ride on an arterial street route going straight
through intersections, practicing staying out of
right-turn-only lanes and avoiding cars that are
merging in from the right.
10.5 SESSION 5
10.5.1 SESSION 5 PREPARATION
10.5.1.1 Tools And Demonstration Equipment
1: Get bearing assembly kit for each student.
Each kit consists of:
Hub that has been previously prepared per the
instructions in equipment making
Cone wrench to match the hub, that has been pre-
viously prepared per the instructions in equipment
making
Two small cups (paper or aluminum) to hold bear-
ing balls
A cleaning rag
2: Students use own dumbbell wrench or adjust-
able for hub lock nuts.
3: Used hub cones, one smoothly worn but not
defective, one with pits and ready to be
replaced.
4: Headset bearings in head tube with steering
tube and fork crown, sectioned in accordance
with the instructions in equipment making
5: You may choose to demonstrate a bottom
bracket with cup-and-cone bearings in shell,
sectioned in accordance with the instructions
in equipment making. Or you may choose to
show a bottom bracket replacement cartridge.
Or both.
10.5.1.2 Supplies
Time-trial equipment, consisting of: results
form (see sample forms); fine-point fiber-tipped
pen (ballpoints won't write on sweaty paper); writ-
ing surface (clipboard, corrugated fiberboard from
an old carton); stopwatch (the modern digital wrist
stopwatch is fine).
10.5.1.3 Select The Time Trial Course
The time trial course should be from 6 miles
over rolling terrain to 10 miles on the flats. A rolling
course is better than a flat course, because the
object is to teach proper pace over different condi-
tions, not to make a 10-mile record. A course with
traffic and signal delays should be avoided

because of unequal effects on riders, but low-traf-
fic stop signs are acceptable because they should
affect all riders equally. Course may be loop, out-
and-back, or point-to-point. The same course
must be used for both of the scheduled time trials.
10.5.1.4 Review
Review the following: Effective Cycling:
1: Chapter 11, Bearing Assembly
2: Chapter 30, Avoiding Straight Road Hazards
3: Chapter 32, Riding the Intersections, the sec-
tion on Avoiding Motorists' Intersection Errors
10.5.2 SESSION 5 LECTURE
1.5 hours
10.5.2.1 Bearing Assembly and Adjustment
Hand out bearing kits, cups for balls, cone
wrenches and rags. Instruct students in disassem-
bling the unit completely, cleaning parts, inspect-
ing for wear. Pass around as examples parts that
are worn but usable and parts that are worn out.
Teach students to assemble loose balls with-
out grease to hold them in. For better-grade hubs
in which the balls will not pass between the axle
and the dust cover, insert the bare axle into the
hub, pull it back behind the dust cover at one end
and insert the correct number of balls. Trap the
balls inside by returning the axle to center. Then
pull the other end of the axle behind its dust cover
and insert its balls in the same way. Then assem-
ble the cones and locknuts to the axle and adjust
the cones. For hubs in which the balls will pass
between the axle and the dust cover, insert the
axle, loosely assemble the cones, insert the balls,
and adjust. Inspect each unit for proper adjust-
ment; a minute amount of play and no binding.
Return for readjustment if it is not correct.
Now that the students have experience with
bearings, use the headset and bottom bracket
units to demonstrate the similarity between all
bicycle bearings. They all have cups matching
cones at each end, with at least one adjustable
cup or cone that is locked with a locknut, and all
but the bottom bracket have a non-rotating lock-
washer. Some, like bottom brackets, have cups
outside, while others, like hubs, have cones out-
side. So long as the cyclist understands these
principles he can repair any one of them.
Show the bottom bracket replacement car-
tridge, and describe how cartridges are removed
and replaced, and the special tools that are
required.
Show, or describe, a hub with cartridge bear-
50
ings. Point out that the words “sealed bearings” do
not refer to cartridge bearings, but only to cup-
and-cone bearings with protective seals that are
only reasonably good at excluding water and dirt.
These bearings are supposedly permanently
lubricated and are used until they wear out. Axles,
hubs, and bearings are all machined to precision
fits that require force applied through special tools
for removal and installation of bearings.
Describe the special wrenches that are
required for some bottom brackets and headsets,
and the need for special tools, or the very careful
and gradual use of hammers and drifts, for remov-
ing the headset races, and of the use of protective
blocks when gradually hammering or pressing
(with a long bolt through the head tube and nut)
the headset races into place.
Emphasize that headsets require the closest
adjustment: no play but no preload. And that no
headset should have caged balls, even if that is
what the manufacturer supplies. Instruct that
headset failure as the bottom bearing balls indent
the bottom races in the "straight-ahead" position
may be "temporarily" relieved by rotating one
lower race a bit and by replacing caged balls with
loose balls.
The roller bearing headset may last much
longer than the conventional ball bearing headset,
and in the Stronglight/Galli version both the races
and the rollers can be replaced without any spe-
cial tools because they are loose pieces. This
design may prove the best in the future.
10.5.2.2 Avoiding Straight Road Hazards And
Motorist Errors At Intersections
Teach about each of the situations discussed
in Effective Cycling Chapter 30 and in the Chapter
32 section Avoiding Motorists' Intersection Errors.
Notice that for each of these the cyclist must first
observe the problem and then handle it. Good
cycling demands constant watchfulness, but mere
fearful looking around is not watchfulness but
carelessness. You must watch for those things
that are important in order to see them as soon as
they appear. So the cyclist must know what to
watch for. Emphasize these problem situations so
that when the conditions suggest that one may be
present the cyclist starts to watch for it.
After observing the problem, the cyclist must
handle it. Notice that many of these situations
require either the emergency maneuvers that
were taught last week, or bike handling actions
similar to them. For instance, a front wheel that is
diverted by a diagonal railroad track is like the ini-

tial swing of rock dodging, and the escape action
is the recovery motion of rock dodging. When
skidding on slippery surfaces the reactions that
are trained by rock dodging and instant turns help
the cyclist stay up.
Emphasize the similarities in watchfulness
and bike handling skill between all of these situa-
tions.
Emphasize that the motorist who comes from
the opposite direction and turns left, the motorist
who overtakes and turns right, and the motorist
who comes out of a stop sign without yielding
cause the most motorist-caused car-bike colli-
sions, and that the primary avoidance maneuver
for all of these is the instant turn, and the second-
ary avoidance maneuver is the panic stop. Gener-
ally, the turn is more important than the stop,
because the cyclist can get further away from the
threat in a given time by turning than by stopping.
Stopping all to often leaves the cyclist in the
motorist's path and dependent upon the motorist's
ability to stop, while turning gets the cyclist out of
the motorist's way.
10.5.2.3 Time Trial Instructions
The typical student is afraid of time trialling
because he thinks that it will painfully collapse him
for the rest of the day. He does not realize that he
will not hurt himself in a 10-mile ride (assuming
that he doesn't have medical problems), and that
its effects will wear off 10 minutes after the finish.
Only the experience will convince him, so your
task is to persuade him to try the experience. You
emphasize that each rider travels at his own pace,
and that this is not a race against each other but
an individual comparison between today's time
and that of the next time trial near the end of the
course. All you ask is improvement, which aver-
ages 20% faster time in my classes. I go so far as
to casually say that improvement over the time
trial is a requirement for passing the course; but I
have never had to worry about flunking anybody
for this reason. Your persuasion and the fact that
everybody else does it gets the laggards in also.
Discuss time trialling technique in the classic ele-
mentary way. Equal power throughout the course.
Maintain the balance between muscle strength
and oxygen transport by shifting to a higher gear if
your are out of breath but have strength, or shifting
to a lower gear if your legs feel weak but you are
not breathing hard. Add a little power on climbs,
reduce a bit on descents, because of the non-lin-
ear effect of air resistance. Keep the cadence
high, so shift the moment a hill slows you down,
51
and keep shifting down to keep your cadence at
optimum, but keep the power on as you go over
the top and shift up on the downhill until you either
reach terminal speed at normal power in a high
gear, or until you must pedal so fast that it is too
tiring and not powerful enough (spinning out).
Maintain deep regular breathing, don't gasp. Keep
down on the bars in a streamlined posture
because your main resistance is the wind of your
racing speed.
Discuss time trial rules and organization. No
drafting; every rider must ride alone. Explain the
effect of drafting because the students don't know
about that yet. This is just another of these things
that cyclists take for granted, but which the new
cyclist just doesn't believe until he experiences it.
(The course is full of these; that is why it is neces-
sary.) An overtaking rider must move out when
feet behind to overtake the slower rider, and must
not cut back until 50 feet beyond him. Riders start
at 1 minute intervals, slower riders first, faster rid-
ers last. This reduces the time required and gives
riders a challenge in chasing and overtaking a
nominally slower rider. Riders are assigned num-
bers in the order of starting, beginning with #1, the
nominally slowest rider. Remember your number,
and call it out as you pass the timekeeper at the
finish, or he won't be able to record your time. At
stop signs, slow to a crawl, just like in town, and
stop if traffic is approaching. Obey all other traffic
laws also as you would in normal riding.
10.5.3 10.5.3 SESSION 5 RIDE
10.5.3.1 10.5.3.1 Time Trial
Ride to start of time trial course.
At start get out the map and with it describe
the course. Show where the climbs and descents
are. Advise where to work harder than average to
make a climb, and where, if anywhere, to ease off
for a descent. Point out stop signs and places
where caution is advisable.
If everybody, including the staff, wants to ride
also find a faster rider with a digital wrist stop-
watch to serve as starter and to ride last.
Assign numbers to riders and set up the time
sheet. (If everybody rides, instructor goes first with
official watch and time sheet, to be back at the fin-
ish in plenty of time to record others as they fin-
ish.) Read through the time sheet asking "Who is
number two?" etc., to make sure that every rider
remembers his number.
The start will be unassisted. The rider strad-
dles his bike with one foot on the pedal and one

on the ground.
If everybody rides, get both stopwatches
ready to start. Get to the starting position with rid-
ers 2 and 3 behind you and the starter (last rider)
beside the line. Explain again that each rider
starts on his number's minute; rider #1 at 1
minute, rider #2 at 2 minutes, etc. Start the stop-
watches.
If the instructor rides he goes first, to return
to the finish line in plenty of time. This is a gamble;
but I have never yet had a puncture while on a
class time trial. I use wired-on tires for all instruc-
tional rides, so there is less chance of trouble. As
he crosses the finish line, the instructor observes
his time and turns around to get back to the line.
He gets out sheet and pen, and writes down his
own time. He is then ready to record the next
rider's time, which may well be 10 minutes later.
This is why you use a fiber-tipped pen instead of a
ballpoint; the instructor drips sweat over the time
sheet.
As each rider comes in, observe his time and
listen to him call out his number. Record the time
against the number. Subtracting the rider's num-
ber in minutes from clock time gives riding time.
After the last rider comes in, ride to a good spot
for conversation. Sort out the times in sequence
and write in place numbers. Announce the names,
places and times, starting with the fastest time.
Now that riders know what it feels like, you
can teach them more. Ask who had energy to
spare at the finish; tell them to work harder from
the start. Ask who was going much slower at the
end; tell them to start easier. Many probably didn't
sprint for the finish; tell everybody that no matter
how tired you are you have one sprint in you for
the finish. If two times are only a few seconds
apart, point out that a good finishing sprint might
have made a difference in the placing. Ask about
cadence and gear shifting, and explain that you
will give instructions on gears and correct shifting
in session 7. Then ask each one to consider how
he felt at each part of the course, and to decide
whether he could do better or go faster at each
part.
By this time all riders are probably exhila-
rated as energy returns, so ask them how racing
feels. You should get a cheer in return.
If you have time, go for a fun ride.
10.6 SESSION 6
10.6.1 SESSION 6 PREPARATION
52
10.6.1.1 Tools And Supplies
1: Rim samples: get the samples of the steel
wired-on rim, the light alloy wired-on drop cen-
ter rim, the light alloy hook bead rim, and the
rim for tubular tires (if you think your students
are interested in tubulars) that have been pre-
pared in accordance with the instructions in
equipment making.
2: Tire samples: Get 6" long samples of various
tires and tubes: roadster tire, high-pressure
tire, tubular tire.
3: Spoke key
4: Bike stand
5: Tool for removing vertical dents in a rim
6: Shoes and pedals with some type of foot reten-
tion device. If any student uses a different type
than yours, use theirs as an additional exam-
ple.
10.6.1.2 Route Planning
Select a route for a city traffic ride which will
enable many left turns in heavy traffic. One way is
to ride on a main arterial, left turn off it, U-turn in
the cross street, left turn onto the arterial again,
and left turn off it again. You make every left turn
(unless delayed by too much traffic) for several
miles, turn around and return while making left
turns in the other direction. You need two such
streets. The first is multi-lane but with little traffic,
for initial practice. The second is multi-lane with
fast, heavy traffic. I use a 6-lane arterial highway
carrying 40,000 cars a day with posted limits of 35
and 45 mph.
10.6.1.3 Review
Review the following: Effective Cycling:
1: Chapter 19, Rims and Spokes
2: Chapter 2, Section on Cleats
3: Chapter 31, Changing Lanes in Traffic
4: Chapter 32, Riding the Intersections
10.6.2 SESSION 6 LECTURE
1 to 1.5 hours
10.6.2.1 Rims and Spokes
Demonstrate the differences between steel
and alloy wired-on rims, between drop center
(Welch) rims and hook bead rims, and between
rims for wired-on tires and rims for tubular tires.
Demonstrate the differences in weight and
stiffness between different kinds of tires, and tell
the intended use of each.
Say that for most purposes, front and rear
wheels with 36 spokes are the best choice.

Wheels with fewer spokes may be fine for racers,
but are insufficiently durable for normal use.
Wheels with 48 spokes are appropriate for tan-
dems.
10.6.2.2 Wheel Trueing
Ask if anybody needs a wheel trued. If so, set the
bike on the stand. If not, put yours on the stand
and go through the motions of trueing the wheel.
1: Discuss how to flatten bulges in the side of the
rim with wrench, vise, mallet, etc.
2: Discuss removing vertical bends in the rim by
use of the rim jack after removing a few
spokes.
3: Discuss removing small vertical wobbles by
loosening or tightening spokes at the wobble.
4: Discuss removing lateral wobbles by loosening
and tightening opposite spokes.
In both 3 and 4, emphasize doing the work in
the bike frame, using your thumb on brake or stay
to detect the wobbles. Point out that trueing
stands are fine for shops but expensive for cyclists
and unavailable on the road. Tell how to true-up
fork ends to get wheels truly centered. Emphasize
working on radial wobbles first, then lateral wob-
bles, always working on the worst remaining wob-
ble. Teach how to remove the twist put into the
spoke by rotating the nipple. Emphasize that
wheel trueing is not hard to do or to understand,
and that practice makes perfect. The cyclist who
starts out by correcting only the worst wobbles in a
crude way to get home again ends up trueing
wheels to within 1/16" after doing a few. Like most
cycling operations, the students need encourage-
ment as much as teaching.
10.6.2.3 Foot Retention Systems
Observe your students to see what kinds of
foot retention systems they are using, if any.
Repeat the instruction on proper foot position on
the pedal, and say that for road cycling a foot
retention system keeps your foot in the proper
place. Probably no students will be using cleats;
any one who wishes to adopt a foot retention sys-
tem will choose one of the automatic pedal sys-
tems. Describe the two most common systems
(Look and Shimano), and give any advice that you
think appropriate for other systems.
Describe, in general, how to adjust the posi-
tion of the shoe on the pedal, so that the pedal
spindle is under the big toe joint and the toe-in or
toe-out angle is most comfortable for the cyclist
and the shoe and ankle clear the crank. Instruct
first-time users to practice clipping into and unclip-
53
ping from the pedals while stationary and leaning
against a wall, so they will know how when actu-
ally riding.
10.6.2.4 Changing Lanes In Traffic
This is one of the most important lectures in
the course because moving into and using the
inner lanes by riding actually in the traffic is the
biggest fear for most cyclists. You have to over-
come this fear. Students are very apprehensive
about the ride with left turns in heavy traffic, imag-
ining all sorts of crises, and some may not show
on this day because of this fear. In earlier sessions
you should have maintained an air of competent
caring, confidence without recklessness, when
mentioning this ride. Saying that it will be easy
suggests recklessness; saying that it will be hard
increases fear; saying that there is insignificant
danger, while accurate, suggests to them that you
don't know what you are talking about.
Emphasize that you will show them all how to
do it safely, and that everybody will do it together.
Say also that riding this heavy-traffic ride is one of
the requirements of the course, both because it
shows that the student can take care of himself in
traffic and because through it the student devel-
ops the confidence that he can ride in any traffic
that his route requires.
So take sufficient time; don't hurry through.
Use lots of pantomime to show how you turn
your head to look behind, take little sidesteps to
represent moving over a lane line, point at the
imaginary car you are discussing. Emphasize
'driver' and 'motorist', play down 'car'. Never talk
as if a car drives itself. Emphasize the negotiation;
the cyclist asks for permission to move over, and
does not move over until he receives assurance
that that permission has been granted.
Draw the cyclist's track while changing lanes,
or refer to Fig. 31.2 in Effective Cycling. Face the
class in cycling posture, and with all the gestures
and technique described above, mime the slow-
speed, medium-speed and high-speed lane
changing techniques that are described in Effec-
tive Cycling.
Discuss what to do if you can't get to the left
turn lane in time; keep straight, turn a block later,
or get to the curb and make a pedestrian-style left
turn. Emphasize allowing plenty of time and dis-
tance, never hurrying across lanes unless they are
all empty. Also emphasize that there is nothing
wrong in riding in the inner lanes, although the
wise cyclist stays close to the lane line to let
motorists overtake. Untrained cyclists are fright-

ened that they are not supposed to be there, and
that 'cars' will not see them because they are not
expected to be there. It's the whole business
about 'cars' owning the road and driving along
without human intervention or guidance; absurd,
but that is what they believe until they actually
experience otherwise. Emphasize that whenever
there is merging traffic, or other drivers are chang-
ing lanes, or any other source of confusion, the
safe thing is to keep cycling straight ahead in
whatever lane you are in until the traffic sorts itself
out. Then the cyclist can change lanes later when
other drivers are not distracted and can pay atten-
tion to him.
At the close of the lecture some students still
will not believe that they will be able to make left
turns in heavy traffic. Just accept this; that is why
you ride directly to do it. You have given them the
intellectual knowledge, and actually doing it will
produce the emotional confidence.
10.6.3 SESSION 6 RIDE
Ride to a multi-lane road with little traffic.
Demonstrate the proper method of changing
lanes as if traffic were there: look behind, cross
the line; look behind, cross the lane; look behind,
cross the next line. Lead the students through it,
then follow them as they do it, taking turns as a
leader. Make sure that all look behind and are not
simply following the leader, who may be making a
mistake.
When all students:
1: Look behind
2: Make 2 moves per lane change, one for the line,
one for the lane
3: Ride smoothly without wobbling while they are
looking over their shoulders
Then ride to the multi-lane arterial street with
heavy traffic.
Lead a left turn after selecting a gap in traffic.
Do it again in heavier traffic. Then follow while the
students take turns leading. Make sure that there
is no mere following the leader, but do not discour-
age leading because that gives followers confi-
dence. The natural leaders or the more confident
students end up leading two or three followers,
which is acceptable at the beginning. Note those
who have already led, and designate new leaders
for each set of turns to ensure that everybody
leads at least one set of turns.
Travel along the heavy-traffic street, making
a left turn off, U-turning in the side street, chang-
ing leaders, left turning onto the heavy-traffic
54
street, and make the next left turn off it again.
Make about 30 left turns in heavy traffic.
Afterwards ride to a quiet spot for a discussion.
Evaluate the students' performances, and ask
what they think about the session. Probably they
will express excitement and new confidence.
While a few students have made foolish
moves in this session I have never had significant
trouble, and I have never had a student fail this
part of the course. Those who fail do so because
they cannot propel their bicycles or cannot coordi-
nate sufficiently to handle their bikes while think-
ing about something else (such as traffic), and
these types have already dropped out.
10.7 SESSION 7
10.7.1 SESSION 7 PREPARATION
10.7.1.1 Equipment
1: Rain protection equipment: Mount your mud-
guards, have cape and spats. Use your hel-
met, not a rain hat, but you may use a helmet
cover.
2: Nighttime protective equipment: Mount 3" diam-
eter amber rear reflector and a headlamp (tail-
lamp optional) that is powered either with a
rechargeable battery pack or a generator.
3: Sponge blocks (2) for emergency maneuver
practice.
4: Rear derailleur that is different from your own,
so that you have both a touring-type, wide-
range derailleur and a racing-type, close-
range derailleur to show.
10.7.1.2 Route Planning
Prepare a route sheet for a city ride from the
location for practicing emergency maneuvers over
a route that includes merges and diverges, like
freeway overcrossings with ramps, or express-
ways if you are allowed to ride these.
10.7.1.3 Review
Review the following: Effective Cycling:
1: Chapter 33, Riding at Night
2: Chapter 34, Riding in the Rain
3: Chapter 35, Riding in Cold Weather
4: Chapter 5, Gear Calculations and Selection
5: Chapter 32, Riding the Intersections, the sec-
tion on Merges and Diverges
6: Chapter 36, Bicycle Commuting and Utility
Cycling
7: Chapter 12, Problems, the section on Night-
time Protective Equipment

10.7.2 SESSION 7 LECTURE
1 hour
10.7.2.1 Riding In The Rain
Demonstrate mudguards, cape, spats. Point
out that mudguards are essential to keep dirty
water off you; since rain is clean, mudguards have
a higher priority than cape. Only after mudguards
are installed should cape and spats be added.
Emphasize the necessity of adequate ventilation
to remove heat and sweat vapor; point out the dis-
advantages of closed garments like rain suits.
You are likely to be asked about Gore-Tex
(tm) by people who believe that its permeability to
water vapor (ability to pass water vapor through its
pores) makes rain suits that are made of it the
best choice for cycling. Gore-Tex may be good for
tents and the like, where the problem is keeping
warm rather than overheating, and where the rest-
ing inhabitants are evaporating only the water
vapor in their breathing air, but cycling conditions
are far more extreme. Gore-Tex passes water
vapor only when both sides of it are dry (which is
when you would not have your cape on), and even
then an active cyclist generates far more sweat
and heat than the material can pass.
Discuss the problems of cycling in wet
weather. Caliper brakes never properly grip wet
chrome-plated rims, and even with aluminum alloy
rims the brakes are slow to take hold. Rain inter-
feres with vision, both the cyclist's and motorist's.
So ride with much more clearance ahead of you
and steer well clear of possible trouble. Puddles
conceal holes and rocks, and provide water
splashes from both your wheels and passing cars,
so stay clear of puddles. Roads are slippery, espe-
cially painted lines or metal objects like manhole
covers, drain grates and train tracks, so avoid fast
turns and braking on turns, and never do either
when crossing especially slippery places. Point
out that the bike handling skills that the students
learned in emergency maneuvers also help the
cyclist stay up on slippery surfaces, another rea-
son for learning them well. Ride steadily in middle
gears to reach your destination, avoiding hard
riding that creates sweat and skids, avoiding fre-
quent gear changes because it is harder to
change gears with a cape, partly because you
cannot see the derailleurs.
Point out the advantages of a 5-speed hub
when riding in the rain, because its shifts are just
as easy even when wearing a cape.
When the rain stops, take off the cape and
spats and roll them up. Attach them to the outside
55
of your saddlebag with their straps, to avoid get-
ting the wet and mud on whatever is inside your
bag.
10.7.2.2 Riding At Night
Demonstrate the amber rear reflector and
the white front lamp. Explain that the amber reflec-
tor is 2.5 times brighter than the same design if
colored red, and that although the law specifies a
red reflector, it also allows (in some instances,
requires) amber reflectors and amber lights on
both bicycles and motor vehicles. So far, nobody
has been bothered for using the amber reflector in
place of a red one.
Discuss why the front lamp and the rear
reflector are necessary and also why they are suf-
ficient. Students always believe that being covered
with reflectors is better than anything else, not
realizing how collisions occur. Here are the rea-
sons why the front lamp is better than front and
side reflectors: the lamp shows the road surface, it
alerts pedestrians and cyclists, and it alerts motor-
ists long before their headlamp beams would
strike reflectors.
The dangers of nighttime cycling and night-
time protective equipment are emotional subjects
that will lead to as long a discussion as you allow.
Use the position in Effective Cycling Instructor's
Manual Chapter 12 as your basis for discussion.
Discus the differences between generators and
rechargeable batteries., and between incandes-
cent (halogen) lights and LED lights. Generators
provide adequate light from incandescent lights
and are always ready for use. Rechargeable bat-
teries powering LED lights are bright for their
weight, particularly useful for those cyclists with
night vision problems or with rough roads or bike
paths that require slow speeds. Rechargeable
batteries powering LED lights make bright rear
lamps really practical; recommend such. A gener-
ator system powering LED lights might be won-
derful, but we haven’t seen one yet.
Discuss never stopping half-way across an
intersection at night. Discuss combined rain and
darkness, particularly how motorists' headlamps
hitting rain drops on the cyclist's eyeglasses cre-
ate dazzling displays, so the cyclist must ride with
good knowledge of the road ahead and plenty of
maneuvering room.
10.7.2.3 Riding In Cold Weather
First discuss the principles of staying warm.
Insulation doesn't make you warm, it merely slows
down the loss of internally-generated heat. There-

fore, every body part requires a flow of hot blood
to supply the heat that is necessary for it to keep
warm in cold weather. Insulating the trunk and the
legs, where the heat is produced in cycling, com-
pels the body to send hot blood to the fingers,
toes, genitals and face, which otherwise don't
have sufficient blood flow to stay warm in cold
weather.
Insulation works by trapping many small cells
of stationary air between the body and the envi-
ronment. Therefore, these cells must be kept full
of air. Since water both collapses the cells and
transmits heat faster than air, water destroys the
insulating power and must be kept out of the insu-
lation. The one full exception is closed-cell foam
(used for divers' wet suits), which is useful for
gloves, the garments that otherwise get miserably
wet in cold, misty weather. The partial exceptions
are wool, which is sufficiently springy that it retains
its cellular structure even when wet, and polypro-
pylene, which repels moisture and so doesn't get
wet from the water vapor released by the body.
Polypropylene is now the best material for
cyclists' undergarments and middle garments in
cold weather, provided that it is protected by a
wind-proof outer shell.
Since staying warm in cold weather is a deli-
cate balance between being cold and getting over-
heated (and consequently sweaty and danger-
ously wet) under great variation in the amount of
heat produced, cycling clothing must easily allow
great changes in the rate of heat loss. This
requires clothing in many layers with adjustable
openings.
In cold weather, roads are often very slip-
pery, and in snowy weather they may be very nar-
row and rutted, thus exacerbating the normal
traffic problems. Cyclists need to use good bike-
handling and traffic skills to handle these difficul-
ties.
In winter weather, bicycles suffer from more
grit and water, to which salt is also added. Keep-
ing them in a warm, dry place whenever possible
and careful cleaning and lubrication to remove
grit, water and salt and to refill the oil reservoirs is
essential to satisfactory service.
10.7.2.4 Cycle Commuting
Discuss cycle commuting. The points to
emphasize are the ease of commuting by cycle
once one learns how, and informing students of all
the techniques that make it easy. Emphasize also
that cycle commuting is the safest cycling that we
know. The reason, of course, is that cycle com-
56
muting is done on the safest roads in the best
organized traffic, by some of the cyclists with bet-
ter skills and who certainly know their routes. Traf-
fic density is, of course, high for most cycle
commuting, but this low accident rate shows that
traffic density has less power to increase cycling
accidents than good traffic control and skilled
cyclists have to reduce them. Now that students
have completed the heavy-traffic left turn session
they can start to appreciate that traffic is not as
excessively dangerous as they used to think. The
real problems of cycle commuting are those asso-
ciated with riding every day under whatever condi-
tions occur; this is the real test of the cyclist who
has it all together. The other problems associated
with cycle commuting are the social ones; what
does your employer think, what do your col-
leagues and customers think?
10.7.2.5 Gears And Derailleurs
The object of this discussion is to get stu-
dents to use their gears as best as their gearing
systems will allow. Improvements to gearing sys-
tems may be covered later, if the students request.
Describe how to calculate gears and what
the gear number (inches or meters) means.
Describe a gear-shift data table having a column
for each chainwheel size and a row for each clus-
ter cog, with the gear number in each cell. If you
have such a table taped to your stem, show it.
Assign to each student the task of preparing a
gear shift data table for his bicycle for the next
session.
Describe the chain takeup limitation of
derailleurs, and warn the students that many rear
derailleurs lack sufficient takeup capacity to
accommodate both a wide-ratio cluster and wide-
ratio chain-wheels. Exhibit samples of racing and
touring derailleurs to show the difference. Defer
answers to questions about gearing improvement
until next session.
10.7.2.6 Merges And Diverges
Discuss the proper track at merges and
diverges per the diagrams in Effective Cycling
Chapter 32, the section on merges and diverges.
Emphasize two things. For diverges and separa-
tions, change to the appropriate lane early. For
merges and particularly unions, don't worry if traf-
fic keeps you in a middle lane for some time after-
wards; just ride the lane line until traffic settles
down. Point out that even if minor branches are
not marked with yield signs, in commuting traffic
motorists understand which is which from habit,

and the cyclist will too if he pays attention as he
rides through on successive days.
10.7.2.7 Maps
Remind students to bring their maps for next ses-
sion's country ride.
10.7.3 SESSION 7 RIDE
2 Hours
Review and practice rock dodging, instant
turns and panic stops. This will probably take only
0.5 hour, exclusive of travel time.
Ride on multilane streets, expressways if
permitted, and through many ramp connections,
emphasizing proper lane selection and proper
position in the lane selected.
10.8 SESSION 8
10.8.1 SESSION 8 PREPARATION
10.8.1.1 Equipment
1: 1: Gearing Visual Aid. Prepare a gear data
table for your bicycle and tape it to the handle-
bar stem.
2: 2: Chain Repair Tools. Get chain tools, bits of
old chain that have been well-cleaned, and
wiping rags. Get pocket tape for measuring
chain for wear.
3: 3: Day Touring Equipment. Fit water bottle cage
and bottle, day saddle-bag, packet of pocket
food.
4: 4: Club Newsletters. Get a collection of copies
of newsletters of local cycling clubs - even of
distant clubs if there are few local clubs. Try to
have examples of newsletters from touring,
racing, social, political, and national cycling
clubs.
10.8.1.2 Route Planning
Select a course for a country ride, and print
sufficient route sheets for every student to have
one. The format that is shown in Fig. 5 is the best
that I know. Take your map with you, as you have
reminded the students.
10.8.2 SESSION 8 LECTURE
Lecture 1.0 hour
10.8.2.1 Gears
Inspect students' gear-shift data tables.
Because of the limited choices offered by
manufacturers, most will have rather standard
57
choices of chainwheel and cog sizes. Therefore,
describe the now-standard process of gear selec-
tion while cycling. That is, the large chainwheel is
for good conditions, the small chainwheel is for dif-
ficult conditions, and the intermediate chainwheel,
if present, is for somewhat difficult conditions.
Look at the road ahead and the wind strength and
direction, and estimate which chainwheel you will
most use for that distance. Shift into that chain-
wheel and then shift the rear derailleur to suit the
smaller changes in gradient and wind. Note that
shifting from one chainwheel to the next will pro-
duce about the same change as two or three
shifts at the rear cluster.
If the students desire discussion of gearing
theory (rather unlikely), then give a quick descrip-
tion of half-step gearing, with or without granny.
10.8.2.2 Chain Repair
Hand out lengths of chain to all students and
chain tools to those who don't have one, and rags.
Demonstrate breaking and joining chain. Empha-
size care in extracting the pin so that it remains in
the side plate, thus making it easy to reassemble.
Show the students the worn pins so that they real-
ize where the wear occurs, and explain how it
occurs (flexing and straightening under load as
the chain comes off the sprocket and goes onto
the chainwheel.) For reassembly, emphasize how
to loosen a stiff link - students often don't under-
stand that the stiffness in a reassembled link is
caused by the outer plates pressing against the
inner plates.
With your pocket tape, demonstrate how to
measure a chain for wear. (24 links; less than 12-
1/8” OK, any greater needs a new chain.)
Discuss new chain on old sprockets - how it
clunks and jumps under load. Using Figs. 18.2
and 18.3 in Effective Cycling, explain how the
hooks that are worn into the sprocket teeth will
clear the old stretched chain but will catch on new
chain. Explain that old sprockets can be ground
smooth again with the correct tools, but that other-
wise they must be replaced. Most of this trouble
can be prevented by early replacement of chains
before they exceed 12-1/8” for 24 links.
10.8.2.3 Keeping Your Body Going
Discuss the development of cycling condition
as a step-by-step process. Practically no Ameri-
can understands physical fitness beyond aerobic
conditioning, because there are few activities that
demand more. They believe that an all-day ride is
merely more of a one-hour ride. They do not

understand that the food conversion chemical
reactions must also be trained to provide energy
for long rides, that the fat decomposition reactions
must be trained after those (particularly if you
want to lose weight), and that heat tolerance and
heat control are also trainable. Not knowing these,
when they first get the bonk they feel that they
have reached their endurance limit, which is not
true at all. So discuss each system in turn, in the
sequence that is given in EC.
Pull your pocket food out of your pocket and
point to your bottle. Require these items for next
week's ride.
10.8.2.4 Introduction To Club Cycling
The first half of the club talk is selling stu-
dents on joining a club. You are probably a club
rider, so you know the enjoyment of club rides.
Those students who are not club members
have started to enjoy club-like cycling in the class,
and if you persuade them that this enjoyment will
continue in a club they start to understand the
attractions of club cycling. In a way, this is like
encouraging young adults to leave home properly
- you as instructor have raised them be cyclists,
and you want them to continue cycling for a life-
time of enjoyment. Some students like the class
and wish to repeat; a second time is fine for them,
and gives you a base of experience in the next
students, but by the end of the second series they
should be completely ready for club cycling.
Effective Cycling gives a general discussion
of the reasons for joining a club and the types of
club. You add to this your knowledge of the local
clubs. After describing them, distribute copies of
newsletters for handing around the class so that
everybody sees one.
Describe in general terms the events and
activities listed, and special events than you know
about. Some students will ask for recommenda-
tions about clubs, in which case you should rec-
ommend what you think best for each student. If
you belong to a hard-riding, semi-racing club,
don't recommend it to a student who rides a 10-
mile level-road time trial in 50 minutes. On the
other hand, if you have a student who is always up
front and rode 60 miles alone last Sunday, recom-
mend such a club to him.
Exercise some political caution. If there is a
club around that wants to coerce people into
cycling through restrictions on motoring and build-
ing bikeways, steer students away from it. These
make the newcomer feel important, but they don't
provide so much cycling fun, and hence cyclists
58
don't develop as well. If you have taught the class
well, your students should be well beyond the
stage of bikeway activism, but they don't yet know
it. Remember that the prime motivation for adult
cycling in America is enjoyment, and that most of
those who choose to ride for transportation do so
because they enjoy cycling. So steer your stu-
dents into clubs that they will enjoy for a lifetime.
If students ask about the political side of
cycling and how to influence government, defer
discussion until session #10. The later in the
course that you talk politics, the more likely you
are to be believed.
The second half of this section covers club
cycling technique, from how to prepare for a club
ride to how to ride in a group and what to do if you
get separated. Carefully cover group cycling tech-
nique in preparation for today's ride. In discussing
close riding and taking pace, consider the abilities
of your students. For some, this discussion is an
immediate prelude to pace lining, while for others
it is only a theoretical possibility. So far, unless
your students have had other cycling experience,
they have not cycled fast enough to appreciate the
effect of wind resistance, and the reduction in
effort produced by taking pace. So emphasize that
this is a technique that all club cyclists learn
sooner or later, and you are providing the basic
information so they at least know the principles
before they start, which will be whenever they are
ready for it.
10.8.2.5 Assignment
Remind students to bring maps, touring
tools, water, salt if they use it, pocket food and pic-
nic lunch for next week's ride.
10.8.3 SESSION 8 RIDE
2 Hours
Act like a ride leader for a club. Hand out
route sheets, explain the route using your map,
and lead off.
When you reach a section that is suitable for
pacing, form those students that you think quali-
fied into groups of three or four and start them
riding at moderate pace at about 3-foot spacing.
Have each leader count pedal turns and move
over at the first suitable time after 50 turns. Care-
fully instruct them not to accelerate when taking
the lead, but to keep a steady pace. Emphasize
the necessity for slowing signals if slowing
becomes necessary. Watch the former leaders
drift back and get on, instructing them how to give
a spurt just as the last rider passes. As proficiency

increases, instruct them to close up to about 2-
foot spacing, and instruct former leaders to drop
back smartly, not working against the wind for
extra time by riding alongside the others. This
requires a better spurt to get on, but saves energy.
Having started the first group, drop back to coach
the next group.
The pacing riders will go faster than the oth-
ers, so set a stopping point for regrouping.
I find that about 1/3 of my students are
already ready for proper pace lining after the first
hour of practice. Collect the whole class, establish
a regrouping point a few miles ahead, select those
who have shown the best condition and technique
today, and ride with this group at a fast pace. If
you like, take a longer way, because you will be
going faster. This group will be exhilarated by
riding faster than they have ever done before.
Then finish the ride with the slower group - send
your assistant in the lead (he or she shouldn't
always have to trail) and coach the others in
cycling at easy pace and 3-foot spacing, which will
be as good as they will be capable of at this time.
10.9 SESSION 9
10.9.1 SESSION 9 PREPARATION
10.9.1.1 Cable Maintenance
Get spare brake and derailleur wires and
about one foot of cable housing and a tight-fitting
housing nipple. Grind or file one end of the hous-
ing flat and square; fit the nipple to the other end.
10.9.1.2 Cotterless Crank Tool
Your students probably won’t have any bicy-
cles with cottered cranks. If there are one or two,
be prepared to describe a crank support for
removing and replacing cotters. A useful type is
made from a 6" piece of 2 x 4 lumber by drilling a
hole 0.75" diameter by 2" deep into one end.
10.9.1.3 Touring Equipment
Fit touring equipment to your bike - mud-
guards, carrier and pannier bags, or large saddle-
bag, lights, wired-on wheels, wide-ratio gears,
touring tools.
10.9.1.4 Touring Maps
Get representative touring maps, preferably
of an area that is familiar to the students, in differ-
ent scales, and at least one topographic map of a
local area. If you have a computer mapping pro-
gram, use it to prepare a printed map and route
59
sheet, with elevation gains or route profile (if it has
that facility) for a local ride.
10.9.1.5 Review
Review the following: Effective Cycling:
1: Chap 4, Brakes
2: Chap 16, Cranks and Chainwheels
3: Chap 39, Introduction to Touring
4: Chap 37, Mountain Riding
10.9.1.6 Route Planning
Select a route for a longer ride (I usually use
about 45 miles) with a picnic lunch stop. I often
run the ride beyond the lunch stop and have lunch
on the return trip, so that the slower and shorter
riders can ride a shorter distance. The last leg is a
1200 foot climb - riders climb as far as they wish
and coast back to lunch. Or you can schedule a
longer and a shorter ride to the same lunch stop.
10.9.2 SESSION 9 LECTURE
1 Hour
10.9.2.1 Crank Maintenance
If there are a few cottered cranks among the
students’ bicycles, play act the procedure for
removing and replacing cottered cranks. Remove
the front wheel of a bicycle that has cottered
cranks so that the 6" long support tool can support
the crank at the cotter. Play act using wrench and
hammer to loosen the nut and drive out the cotter.
Show the spare cotter, examine it for nicks
and bashed threads, describe filing it smooth and
parallel to the other cotter. Instruct your students
to have a spare pair available before removing any
cotter. Play act driving the cotter in and tightening
its nut.
Remove the dust cover from a cotterless
crank set and play act removing the bolt and using
the crank extractor tool. Say that some axles are
tapered squares, while others have tapered
splines, and that those of different makers are not
interchangeable. Explain how to examine inside
the removed crank for burrs, and how to cut them
out with a sharp knife, being very careful not to
scrape the faces of the socket. Explain that a
skilled mechanic can reshape the inside of the
socket to match the axle, but most people have
not developed that skill. Therefore, it is vital to
have the parts perfectly clean and to work very
carefully. Say that engineers are divided on the
question of grease, some believing that a light
coating of clean grease makes for closer contact
with less stress on the parts, while others don't

think that grease is desirable. I personally prefer
using grease. Say also that a drop of blue Locktite
on the threads of the bolt helps keep it tight, but
that even so the bolt must be checked for tight-
ness after the first 50 and 100 miles.
Describe using a large wrench to straighten
cranks while they are still on the axle. Describe
using a smaller adjustable wrench to straighten
wobbly chainwheels, just like straightening a rim.
Say that bike shops have better tools to handle
badly-bent cranks and chainwheels.
10.9.2.2 Cable Maintenance
Show the brake and cable wires that you
have prepared. Show the end of the housing that
has merely been cut, and slip the nipple over it.
Then show the end that has been ground or filed
square, and explain that each end must be treated
in one of these ways. Inspect a bike for wear of the
inner wires, particularly showing the typical wear
points inside the brake levers and at the derailleur
levers. Inspect the housing for kinks. Play act
removing the wire and the housing and replacing
them with new parts.
10.9.2.3 Touring
As in the club cycling discussion, combine
the general principles of touring as given in Effec-
tive Cycling with your knowledge of local condi-
tions. Discuss the four methods of touring, show
how to carry your equipment. Describe maps of
differing scales and sources of maps. Show how
maps disclose the general nature of the terrain,
and try to get students familiar with the different
scales of maps. Use the topo map of the local
area to show how much detail is available, but also
point out how short a ride it is to go beyond the
edge.
If you have a computer map program,
present the map, route sheet, and route profile (it
the program will do that), and describe the use of
this aid.
Discuss the four functions of maps: routing, follow-
ing, changing, and locating.
Every student contemplating touring worries
about equipment and clothing. Basically the
cycling equipment is simply that which you use for
riding every day when at home. Touring is simply
riding every day without going home at night. The
only exception is to avoid tubular tires, which most
students will not be using in any case. Don't tour
on them because replacement supplies are hard
to get and repair takes more time when time is
valuable. The repair equipment is the light-weight
60
version of what is used at home - generally the
cheaper variety. Clothing is the minimum that is
necessary for cycling and for socializing - anything
else is silly. If cycle-camping, lightweight back-
packing gear is best. Go quickly over the list in
Effective Cycling to illustrate principles but do not
be definite. The students can always refer to the
list at home.
Describe your own carrying equipment as
mounted on your bike, and other typical kinds.
New cyclists always ask: How Far To Tour?
Reassure them with the answer: As Long As You
Like - It's Up To You.
Assign for homework the planning of an over-
night tour to any location that the student wishes,
starting either directly from home or by using a car
start. Have him get maps, select his style of tour-
ing, plan his route and stopping points, and make
an equipment list for what he would need. This
brings the practicality of touring close to mind - I
need to fix this and get that and I can go!
10.9.2.4 Mountain Riding
Mountain riding presents three problems:
steep grades, total elevation gain and high-speed
turns. Except in extremely flat areas like Florida,
there are sufficient hills to make mountain riding a
normal part of cycling, except for the large energy
expenditure that is necessary when climbing large
elevation gains. Even in areas with low altitudes it
is possible to have elevation gains of 5,000 feet in
a one-day ride, which by most standards is a hilly
day. Since roads in areas with short hills are not
usually engineered to minimize the worst grade,
even these areas require low gears for climbing.
For example, southern England is a low land
that is not considered mountainous, while Califor-
nia is mountainous, yet England requires lower
gears for climbing than does California while giv-
ing practically no opportunities to use higher
gears on descents because the hills are so short.
Therefore, teach the gear-shifting and pedal
action techniques for climbing and also the tech-
niques for fast cornering, but leave the develop-
ment of endurance to the individual, unless there
is need to regularly climb 1,000 feet or more in
your area. Emphasize the classic techniques of
shifting down to maintain pedal cadence and of
selecting the speed at which you can complete the
climb at a steady pace. Teach how to look ahead
to estimate the total climb before you reach the
foot, so that the correct pace can be selected.
For fast downhill cornering, emphasize brak-
ing before the curve and leaning into the curve

sufficiently to make the curve at the speed at
which you are traveling. If the rider enters a curve
too fast he has only one sensible choice: lean to
make the curve, even if he slides off the road,
because he then goes off the road feet first. If he
doesn't lean sufficiently because of fear, he rides
off the road upright and head first, which is much
more dangerous. To develop sufficient lean, the
rider steers toward the outside of the curve for a
moment, just as he does when initiating an instant
turn. Therefore, teach the similarity between the
two movements. Teach cyclists to use the whole
width of the lane to make the curve more gradual,
emphasizing that at these speeds the cyclist is
traveling as fast as any motor vehicle can travel,
so there is no need to squeeze to the curb.
10.9.3 SESSION 9 RIDE
3.5 Hours
Distribute route sheets and explain the route.
Emphasize the location and expected time at the
lunch stop, and whatever arrangements you have
made to allow faster and slower riders to lunch
together.
This is a fun ride, so lead off just like a club
ride. Don't force the pace unless the students
want to, and then allow time for riders to regroup
within the faster and slower groups. Talk about
cycling as you ride and at lunch - there's never
any shortage of subjects by this part of the
course. Move back and forward within the group
and talk with everybody; naturally, there should be
a leader with each group. Practice more pace lin-
ing, particularly if the road is level and there are
headwinds.
From this point on, you have taught every-thing in
the course. The remainder is practice, review and
evaluation, with emphasis upon enjoyment.
10.10 SESSION 10
10.10.1 SESSION 10 PREPARATION
10.10.1.1 Parts Interchangeability
Back when England was the factory for the
world, most bikes used English inch dimensions,
with only some bikes using metric millimeter
dimensions. But now there is general agreement
about a common system that mixes inch and milli-
meter measurements. However, progress has
introduced new interchangeability problems even
between parts measured in millimeters, so that a
purchaser of parts needs to know what will work
with what.
61
There are several designs of cranks and bot-
tom-bracket spindles that are not interchangeable.
Some front derailleurs are designed to mount on a
permanent bracket, while others clamp around the
seat tube. There are several chainwheel-to-crank
mounting systems, differing principally in the
stated “bolt-circle diameter”. This is the diameter
of the circle of the mounting bolts, but since nearly
all have five bolts equally spaced you can’t mea-
sure the bolt-circle diameter. For five-arm cranks,
the bolt circle diameter is 1.7 times the distance
between adjacent bolt holes. All front hubs are
now 100mm wide, but rear hubs may be 120, 125,
130, 135, depending on the number of sprockets
they are designed for.
10.10.1.2 Ride Planning
Select a country ride and prepare and copy
the route sheets. If desirable for this class, have
both longer and shorter routes. End at a place that
is suitable for a discussion.
10.10.1.3 Review
Review the following: Effective Cycling:
1: Chapter 21, Leather Maintenance
2: Chapter 7, Dimensional Standards
3: Chapter 40, Introduction to Racing
4: Chapter 41, Cycling With Love
5: Chapter 44, Introduction to Politics
10.10.2 SESSION 10 LECTURE
1.0 Hour
10.10.2.1 Touring
Review some student's touring plan, and ask
what problems other students had not solved in
their planning. Use the answers to cover any prob-
lem areas; make sure that each student has
developed a feel for the equipment and knowledge
that he needs to go touring.
10.10.2.2 2 Leather Articles
Discuss the maintenance of saddles and
toestraps.
10.10.2.3 Dimensional Standards And Inter-
changeability
Discuss tire and rim sizes and point out that
the engineering designation of casing width and
diameter of rim (at the bead) is least likely to result
in mistake when buying tires. (That is, 25-622 for
high-pressure 700C size, and similar.) Discuss the
difference between wired-on tires with wire beads
and wired-on tires with foldable beads.

Say that nowadays almost all bicycle parts
are made to a common set of dimensional stan-
dards, which are a blend of English and metric
dimensions. There are several designs of cranks
and bottom-bracket spindles that are not inter-
changeable. Some front derailleurs are designed
to mount on a permanent bracket, while others
clamp around the seat tube. There are several
chainwheel-to-crank mounting systems, differing
principally in the stated “bolt-circle diameter”. This
is the diameter of the circle of the mounting bolts,
but since nearly all have five bolts equally spaced
you can’t measure the bolt-circle diameter. For
five-arm cranks, the bolt circle diameter is 1.7
times the distance between adjacent bolt holes.
All front hubs are now 100mm wide, but rear hubs
may be 120, 125, 130, 135, depending on the
number of sprockets they are designed for. If you
are in doubt about a part, see a good bicycle
mechanic who can identify what you have.
10.10.2.4 Racing
Outline the types of racing as described in
Effective Cycling. Tell some racing stories, particu-
larly about local races on roads that the students
know and which they may go to watch.
Remind students that they have already
started to race in the easiest way by riding time tri-
als, and that part of next week's examination is the
second time trial. Weather permitting, they should
do better now than the first time. Now that they
know what to expect of themselves and the
course, and have a little experience by which to
judge, discuss the time-trial recommendations in
Effective Cycling and ask them to prepare them-
selves accordingly.
10.10.2.5 Cycling With Love
The most important concept in this subject is
that cycling can be a lifelong family activity whose
enjoyment can be passed on to one's children.
Don't spend much time on equipment; rather
describe the stages of a cycling life, from the
young person seeking companionship to the cou-
ple whose children are leaving home accompa-
nied by the knowledge, enjoyment and friendships
that have been developed through cycling.
Emphasize that happy cycling with friends, lovers
and children is a social activity that we can learn
to do well, with quite realistic patterns for each
age. Just as with other cycling activities, there's no
mystery to it once it has been explained.
10.10.2.6 Politics
62
Outline the current political situation for
cyclists, whatever it is at the time. By this time,
students will be ready to realize that they have
been riding as drivers of vehicles and that any pol-
icy or program that restricts that kind of cycling is
bad for them. Point out what government has
done to discourage cycling as drivers of vehicles,
and what, if anything, it has done to encourage
that. Emphasize that there is no safer cycling
method than cycling as the driver of a vehicle on a
well-designed roadway, and that we do not know
of any better special road design that can be pro-
duced at reasonable cost. Emphasize that this
course has been developed and taught because
competent cycling technique is the key to both
safe and efficient cycling. There is no highway
design that makes incompetent cycling safe.
10.10.2.7 Final Examination Reminder
Remind students that the final examination
has three portions: written, a traffic ride and a time
trial, and that they will be evaluated on all three.
The written part and the traffic ride will be
evaluated on an absolute basis, because all
cyclists have equal potential and all have equal
need for the knowledge. The time trial will be eval-
uated on a relative basis, primarily whether the
student does better than the first time, considering
his age, type and experience and the weather on
the two events.
10.10.3 SESSION 10 RIDE
2 Hours
This is another fun ride. Lead it so students
get maximum enjoyment. At the end, hold a
review at which you answer questions, review
material, or just talk about cycling, as the students
wish.
10.11 SESSION 11
10.11.1 SESSION 11 FINAL EXAMINATION
10.11.1.1
There are two general ways to schedule the
written and road tests. One way is to give the writ-
ten test to all students, and then give the road test
to all students. The other way is to split the class
into two (or more) groups, having one group(s)
taking the written examination while the other
group is taking the road test. This requires an
assistant to proctor the written test while you give
the road test. Which you do depends on the size
of the class and the local circumstances of traffic

and the like.
10.11.1.2 Written Examination preparation
Inventing the written examination questions
appears to be the major preparation, but perhaps
it is not. Review in your own mind what you have
covered and what you should have covered better.
See if the course had a good balance
between mechanics, traffic skills, and cycling skills
and enjoyment. Reflect on whether the students
both learned the basic standard in maintenance
and traffic, enjoyed themselves in the course, and
are equipped to develop their skills and enjoyment
for a lifetime.
The examination in Appendix C of Effective
Cycling is one that I have used and is representa-
tive of what I consider to be appropriate. There
are questions on mechanics, physiology and traf-
fic. The questions are not randomly selected from
things that I have said, but have been chosen to
illustrate points that I have considered important.
Nearly always I will have at least one question on
each of brakes, darkness, emergency handling,
intersection maneuvers, physical conditioning,
politics. The questions are written to elicit the best
answer if the student has really learned the sub-
ject. American cyclists today tend to be intelligent
and well-educated, so they can answer well. Do
not, however, grade lower than passing those
answers that show that the student knows the
material even though he expresses it badly. Since
one purpose of this course is to develop cyclists
who can spread the word to others, it is appropri-
ate to reserve the highest grades for those who
can both ride and explain. Therefore, we have a
spread between passing, for those who ride ade-
quately, and A grades, for those who can both ride
and explain. I have not had students who can
explain but not ride, and I expect that this is an
impossible combination.
I allow one hour for the written examination.
If the class is held at an open area without desks,
supply 8.5” x 11” corrugated fiberboard writing
boards, cut from cutup cardboard cartons. These
work well enough and are light enough for you to
carry.
10.11.1.3 Cycling Proficiency Test Preparation
Work out the test route that you will use. Try
to include as many of the important items as you
can find in your area. Don’t ride straight for any
considerable distance, but make many turns to
include the largest number of different maneuvers
in as short a distance as possible, providing there
63
is sufficient motor traffic to test the students. If the
test area is near a bicycling-popular university, or
other source of incompetent cyclists, try to stay
away from those because they will upset the traffic
pattern. Bear in mind that you might want to obtain
more observations of some maneuver or other,
and allow for changing your route if that becomes
desirable. Also bear in mind that you want to
reach the time-trial course after the test ride. Print
up a route sheet for each student.
Make sure that your voice recording system
is working properly, including the foot switch if you
plan to score the test on site, and take it all with
you.
Print out sufficient test score sheets for the
number of students that you have, plus some
spares. The students will probably score each
other’s tests. If so, and your site does not provide
desks, provide a 8.5” x 11” piece of fiberboard (cut
from cardboard cartons) for each to use to write
upon.
Take at least a simple 4-function calculator
that you are used to using. Several will speed up
the calculations of scores.
10.11.1.4 Time Trial Preparation
Use the same time-trial route as before. Print
and take a time-trial results sheet, or more if
required for the number of students. Take your
stop watch and a fiber-tipped pen for recording
times (not a ball point; won’t write on sweaty
paper).
10.11.2 Examinations
10.11.2.1 Written Examination
There’s not much to say about giving this
examination. It is closed-book.
10.11.2.2 Cycling Proficiency Test
Instruct the probable leaders not to get too
far ahead of the slower riders, so you can observe
all at once. Then yourself follow the class to
observe how they ride. You know how to ride, and
you know what you have been teaching, so evalu-
ating how they ride should be little problem. If you
have a large class, select a small group to ride
ahead of you while the others ride behind. Record
the behavior of that group, making sure that no
student simply follows the others all the time.
Once that group has been observed, select
another group for observation. Continue until you
have observed all students for sufficient number of
maneuvers to be able to make a valid score.

10.11.2.3 Time Trial
Run the time trial. Assuming that the weather
is not bad, times should be better. My students
have averaged about 20% reduction over the two
trials. I have never had to consider whether a stu-
dent would pass or not - all beginning students
have improved so much that passing has been
certain. Repeat students usually show less
improvement, but their times are already better
than average.
10.11.3 Final Remarks
After the time trial move to a good discussion
spot. Set up to record the scores for the road test.
Assign each student to score the results for
another student, while you work the recorder to
speak the observations of each maneuver in turn.
If you have time, then calculate the scores,
using the calculators. Go over the correct exami-
nation answers, answer questions, inquire how the
students feel about the course, and thank them for
attending.
Naturally, if you have some formalities to be
completed for your sponsoring organization, if any,
then be sure to complete these.
11 TEACHING IN SCHOOLS
SPECIAL PREPARATION
Organizing an Effective Cycling course in the
public schools presents far more difficulty than
organizing one for adults. The normal difficulties
of making any addition to the curriculum are bad
enough; cycling adds the elements of fear and
controversy.
11.1 REQUIREMENTS
Starting an Effective Cycling program for school-
children requires six factors:
1: A hardworking and well-informed but patient
and tactful organizer
2: A trained and certified instructor
3: Public support, particularly from the parents of
that school
4: A willing school administration
5: Voluntary students with voluntary parents
6: Sufficient money to carry the program
It is vital that those who wish to organize
Effective Cycling classes in the schools under-
stand the difficulties that they face. Only a deter-
mined, long-term campaign can succeed, and
then only when competently conducted. Effective
Cycling succeeds because it teaches students
64
how to ride properly in traffic, but that prospect
raises deep fears in parents, police, public admin-
istrators and school administrators. If not allevi-
ated, these fears will kill all prospects of a
program. Only when these fears are dispelled can
the normal bureaucratic problems be tackled.
Unlike previous 'bike-safety' programs, Effec-
tive Cycling is based on the principle that cyclists
fare best when they act and are treated as drivers
of vehicles. Naturally, the training consists of
learning the skills of riding properly in traffic. This
training can only occur in the streets in real traffic,
just as motorists learn to drive cars. That is what
causes opposition. People believe that cycling in
traffic is deadly dangerous even for skilled cyclists,
and they won't allow their unskilled children to be
taken out onto the streets where they will be killed.
These unfounded fears will kill any program
that arouses them. Even when not fully aroused
by strong emotions, these fears arouse the super-
stition that cycling training cannot work. The
superstition holds that even normally-skilled
cyclists can protect their lives only by staying out
of motorists' way, a skill that is easy to teach.
Since the little there is to learn is already taught in
bike safety programs, there is no need to set up a
course that has no content and cannot have any.
It's a dangerous waste of money when other
things are much more important.
The organizer must have the persuasive
skills and the knowledge to overcome this
unfounded but superstitiously strong opposition.
He or she must have the diplomatic skills to
defuse the fears among those who may be inter-
ested or affected, and to convince those who will
not give up their fears that they will never be
adversely affected by a program that they may
continue to disapprove of. That is why so much of
the training of instructors is directed at social and
psychological understanding of cycling affairs.
11.2 ORGANIZING A PROGRAM
Starting the first Effective Cycling program in
a public school system took four years of dedi-
cated work. Yours may be quicker because inter-
mediate and elementary Effective Cycling have
now been developed and tested, but the chances
are that Effective Cycling and the vehicular-cycling
principle are still new ideas in your city. Convinc-
ing people of the need for a bicycle-safety pro-
gram is not enough, and by itself it may be harm-
ful. You have to convince them that all the previ-
ous bike-safety programs were wrong and that

Effective Cycling, a program that is certainly
expensive and that sounds dangerous to most
people, is the correct solution. That's a long task.
Start by contacting two groups of people: those
who are interested in cycling (whom you probably
know already) and those who are interested in
child safety and school safety programs. The
cyclists are more likely to be informed of EC's vir-
tues, and even if they are not they are more likely
to understand its logic and benefits. Seek out
those who have children in school and are active
in parents' organizations and educational affairs.
Persuade them to help you in your effort by devel-
oping their contacts in those areas and spreading
the word that Effective Cycling works and has their
approval. Get introduced to the committees that
are active in school safety. You will probably be
asked to do some work; well, successful perfor-
mance demonstrates your sincerity and reliability.
However, try to do things that pertain to cycling,
saying that that is your field and where you can
best help. If not that, then work in traffic safety.
You have three purposes: to know what is
going on in your area in this subject; to develop a
reputation for being well-informed, capable and
reliable; to be invited (with some push from your-
self, of course) to give presentations to any group
that may be able to assist in starting an Effective
Cycling program.
These presentations have two purposes: to
arouse interest and to allay fears. The people in
your audiences will usually not be interested in
cycling either as a sport or as a transportation
reform. They are interested only in making chil-
dren's cycling safe. They are not averse to having
children enjoy cycling, and they may view enjoy-
ment as a useful way to teach safer cycling, but
only a few of them regard the teaching of sporting
cycling as a benefit that is worth supporting. On
the other hand, nearly all of them will disapprove
of cycling as a transportation reform. Stay well
away from giving the impression that you are
working to popularize cycling or to convert people
from motoring to cycling. In fact, you will be given
that label whether you encourage it or not, so it
becomes necessary to specifically disavow it,
repeatedly. Stick to the main point that you are pri-
marily working to reduce the accident rate for the
cycling that children will do in any case, and sec-
ondarily to give them more enjoyment in cycling
properly, and nothing more.
Since the main subject of your discussions is
safety, you must talk about the dangers of cycling.
However, you must be very careful to distinguish
65
between the real dangers and what the audience
thinks the dangers to be. They think that the dan-
ger is motor traffic and that the way to be safe is to
stay as far out of its way as possible. You must
point out that the major dangers, the causes of
most accidents and most car-bike collisions in this
age group, are cyclist errors that are preventable
through Effective Cycling training. Otherwise they
will continue to believe that EC training is danger-
ous because it takes place on the streets in real
traffic.
Likewise, you have to criticize the bike-safety
training that they are used to and believe in, but
you must always do this only in the course of pre-
senting the better methods of EC. For example,
when you describe the five traffic principles that
underlie EC training, you can easily add that none
of these are covered in the traditional bike-safety
programs. Similarly, you may point out that tradi-
tional bike-safety education does not teach chil-
dren who are entering the roadway to look both
ways and to delay until they see that no traffic is
coming. "We practice that many times until I know
that the children do it right every time. Isn't that
what you want your children to learn?" The
instructor may say that certainly he will take the-
children out in traffic, but only after they have dem-
onstrated that they ride properly where there is no
traffic. Then the first practice in traffic will involve
only one car at a time until the students have dem-
onstrated that they can judge one car at a time.
This careful process is why the EC program
works and why it is effective.
You have to discuss frightening thoughts,
and every time that you do you risk aggravating
the fears that lie behind them and thereby ruining
your chances, unless you immediately allay the
fears with a demonstration of a safer and better
technique while displaying a wise and competent
personality. It's a tall order.
Once you have generated support and
demand from the local community you may
approach the school administration. The same
gradual approach is desirable, and it is desirable
to seek out those persons in the education com-
munity who may give support, openly or quietly.
Even when the administration has become
supportive, there are the usual bureaucratic prob-
lems: people, time and money. Time must be
found in the school year, and even in those sys-
tems where safety education is required that time
will be insufficient. The program requires one
period a day for three, or better four, weeks. That
will be either physical education time or after-
 66

school time because cycling is a sport. If the They will use these principles for making all
school's risk manager must approve, you must the maneuvers that are necessary for multi-lane
describe the program to him. He will probably streets with traffic flowing up to 35 mph (grade
approve after a detailed discussion. The police five) or 45 mph (grade seven). It may appear that
may oppose, requiring more explanations. The the eight-year-olds need to learn the latter two
money will have to be found. You may be pre- principles and do so. To some extent, the eight-
pared to start by donating your time, but the class year-olds learn about intersection positioning as
requires supplies and no program will continue they learn how to turn left, but since they learn
unless the instructors are paid. only on two-lane roads they do not have to learn
how to select a lane but only how to position them-
11.3 OBJECTIVES OF COURSES selves near the center of the road. They practically
never ride fast enough to need to know about
The Effective Cycling Program in schools
speed positioning, except when one is overtaking
has one objective: to provide traffic-cycling skills
another. In both these cases, they are taught the
that are usable by and suitable for the students.
correct method of performing the maneuver with-
Since the program may be given as early as the
out explicit mention of the principles of intersec-
third grade or as late as the seventh grade, the
tion positioning and speed positioning. Turning left
level of achievement will depend on the age of the
and overtaking a companion are taught as excep-
students, but in each case the students will learn
tions to the general rule of riding near the right-
the skills that are necessary for the cycling that is
hand edge of the roadway, rather than as exam-
typical of their age.
ples of the principles of intersection and speed
Students in grade three will learn to use the first
positioning.
three principles of cycling in traffic:
These objectives are sufficient for the stu-
1: Riding on the right-hand side of the roadway,
dents to operate as drivers of vehicles on the
never on the left and rarely on the sidewalk.
streets that serve most of the destinations that
2: How to yield to traffic whenever they reach a
they are allowed to go to. These objectives can be
superior cross street.
attained in courses that last fifteen class sessions.
3: How to yield to traffic whenever changing lanes
The older students may in addition be taught
or moving laterally on the roadway.
to do the normal mechanical safety check and
minor adjustments. This is likely to require an
They will use these principles for making all
additional five sessions.
the maneuvers (including vehicular-style left turns)
In addition to learning how to cycle properly
that are necessary for two-lane residential streets
and understanding the purpose of each action,
with traffic flowing at 25 or 30 mph.
students of grade seven will acquire an under-
Students in grades five or seven will learn to use
standing of the traffic system as a system for the
all five principles of cycling in traffic:
efficient and safe movement of traffic on highways.
1: Riding on the right-hand side of the roadway,
They will observe that they are performing the
never on the left and rarely on the sidewalk.
same maneuvers in the same ways as other driv-
2: How to yield to traffic whenever they reach a
ers, and will conclude that this is the way that it
superior cross street.
ought to be. They may take to criticizing the per-
3: How to yield to traffic whenever changing lanes
formance of any motorists who make mistakes in
or moving laterally on the roadway.
front of them, particularly those drivers who cause
4: When approaching an intersection, one's posi-
delays by nicely yielding to the cyclist when the
tion is determined by where one wishes to go.
cyclist has the duty to yield to the motorist. The
Those who want to turn right are on the right
instructor does not have to lecture the students on
near the curb, those who want to turn left are
these matters; they reach these conclusions
near the center of the road, while those who
themselves, and it is probably better so.
want to go straight are between these.
The objective of developing to a useful and
5: When travelling between intersections, one's
safe extent the essential skills of cycling in traffic
position is determined by one's speed relative
ignores many items that other bicycling programs
to other traffic. Parked vehicles are at the
include. It ignores these because developing the
curb, slow vehicles are next to them, while fast
traffic skills requires more time than most school
vehicles are near the center of the road.
systems have previously allocated to bicycle
safety programs. There is no time to be wasted on

work that does not advance the skills of cycling in
traffic. Many educators assume that knowledge of
road signs and traffic laws prevents cyclists from
getting into accidents or makes them behave
more as society desires, but in fact this knowledge
has only a peripheral effect. The cyclist who has
learned effective cycling technique has the knowl-
edge and incentive to operate in accordance with
the laws and principles because he has learned
that that technique really works. On the other
hand, the person who knows only the laws does
not know how to cycle properly because he knows
only words without knowing the skills and appreci-
ating their advantages. More than that, children
don't learn activities from laws; they learn the
meaning of the law from being shown how to per-
form activities that are in accordance with the law.
The Effective Cycling Program does not
teach children to make the pedestrian-style left
turn, for several reasons. In the course, children
learn to make vehicular-style left turns with skill,
so that there is little need for them to make pedes-
trian-style left turns. As a general rule, students
should not cycle at all on roads where they cannot
safely make a vehicular-style left turn. There is no
evidence that pedestrian-style left turns are safer
than vehicular-style ones. At those locations
where traffic is so heavy that a pedestrian-style
left turn might be justified, it takes a large part of
one class session to get all students through one
pedestrian-style left turn. A class can practice
pedestrian-style left turns only at signalized inter-
sections, walking their bicycles as a group when
the signal permits. Since the students already
know how to do this, there is no point to taking
valuable class time to review. Since signalized
intersections are safer than those without traffic
controls, and since traffic signals break up the traf-
fic into platoons, there is less need to use the
pedestrian-style left turn at signalized intersec-
tions than there is at unsignalized intersections.
Since the skills needed at unsignalized intersec-
tions are so different from those needed at signal-
ized ones, it isn't worth valuable class time to
learn to make pedestrian-style left turns at signal-
ized intersections.
The Effective Cycling Program for children
does not include methods of recognizing and
avoiding the mistakes of other drivers. Accident
statistics show that this is a desirable objective
and the adult course shows that it can be attained,
but experience has shown that children can't learn
this in this course. For the fifth and seventh grade
students, the problem is probably not one of insuf-
67
ficient maturity but of insufficient experience of
traffic. The Effective Cycling course is their first
exposure to traffic concepts and operation in traf-
fic. Their time is fully occupied in learning how to
operate properly. Until they have had sufficient
experience to make proper operation habitual,
they do not have the understanding of traffic to be
able to detect the incipient mistakes of other driv-
ers, and hence cannot avoid the improperly-driven
vehicles. The most difficult part of the Effective
Cycling course for seventh grade students is to
teach them not to creep up on the right-hand side
of right-turning cars. They have not yet learned
how to distinguish a car that will go straight from
one that will turn right, while experienced adult
cyclists can do this with fair accuracy. Presumably,
if the students continue to ride properly after the
course they will develop this skill as adults do, but
it takes more time than is available.
11.4 TEACHING METHODS
11.4.1 TEACHING BY REPEATED PRACTICE
The Effective Cycling courses for children are
taught by the classic methods for any motor activ-
ity. There are four steps to teaching any one con-
cept and skill:
1: Tell: The instructor tells the students what the
activity does and how it is performed, using
hand motions or visual aids as appropriate
and available.
2: Show: The instructor demonstrates in front of
the students the proper method of performing
the activity, explaining what he is doing as he
does it.
3: Repeated Practice: The students repeatedly
practice the activity until they perform it cor-
rectly. Once the skill is learned under easy
conditions, they are required to perform it
under progressively more difficult conditions
until they can perform it under the most diffi-
cult conditions that are suitable for their age.
4: Repeated Evaluation: As the students practice,
the instructor evaluates each performance
and tells each student when and how he is
doing it incorrectly and how to correct his
error, and praises each student as he
improves and when he does it correctly.
This method of teaching is nearly all action
with little talk. It is teaching by doing. If the instruc-
tor keeps the activity going the students can learn
the five basic traffic skills extremely well in the fif-
teen sessions. If he wastes time talking or doing

administrative things during class time, the stu-
dents will have insufficient practice and will not
complete the course. One might think that there is
ample time in fifteen sessions to do much more,
as some other programs attempt to do in less
time, but in fact there is not. The students need all
the practice that can be squeezed into those fif-
teen sessions. Remember, we are not teaching
verbal concepts for verbal repetition on a written
examination. We are teaching students the proper
methods of cycling in traffic, which must be done
properly because they are done under conditions
when errors can be dangerous and which will be
useful all the students' lives.
American adults can be taught more quickly
than children with a greater use of verbal instruc-
tion and less practical instruction. This is because
they already have experience in traffic, so that as
the instructor explains a matter they can picture in
their minds the situation that he is discussing.
Children cannot do this, for two reasons. First,
they have a lower level of verbal skill, so that they
do not fully understand the complicated sentences
and abstract words that the instructor must use to
discuss traffic situations. Second, they have no
experience of operating properly in traffic, so that
they cannot use the words that they barely under-
stand to create an accurate picture in their minds.
Many third grade students cannot under-
stand what is meant by the phrase 'the center of
the road', for on their first attempts to approach a
left turn they may position themselves anywhere
across the width of the road. Those older students
who have cycled in traffic for some years may
have a better understanding, but because they
have been cycling so badly their understanding is
still very poor and cannot be relied upon.
When children learn by imitation, they learn
very few things at one time. An adult may copy a
series of motions, getting most of them generally
correct on the first attempt. Children have less
ability to learn several motions, so on their first
attempts they make many mistakes. Each child
will require at least one repetition of the series to
correct each of his mistakes. As each child runs
through the motions that produce each traffic
maneuver, the instructor must remember the
child's most significant errors and describe one or
two of them to him immediately after he completes
the maneuver and returns to the group. As the
child performs the maneuver, the instructor may
use the child's performance as an example to the
other students who are watching, explaining to
them the good points and the errors made by the
68
student. However, do not rely on this description to
reach the mind of the child who is performing,
because he will be concentrating on doing the
task correctly rather than listening to the instruc-
tor. Remind him of your evaluation after he com-
pletes the maneuver and has time to think about
his performance.
The first part of learning any maneuver is to
learn the sequence of motions that make it up. If
you are teaching the students to make a left turn
on a two-lane street, you first teach them to look
behind, move to the center, look for traffic that is
already in the intersection, look ahead for oncom-
ing traffic, make the turn, look behind again, move
to the side of the new road. That maneuver takes
seven different steps. Not all are obvious. You, the
instructor, can see whether the student looks
behind because you can see him turn his head but
you cannot see whether he looks ahead, because
that does not require any obvious motion.
Once the student has learned the correct
sequence of motions, he is ready to understand
why each action is performed. Ask the student:
"What do you do first?" The correct answer is:
"Look over my shoulder." Q: "Why do you do
that?" A: "So I won't turn in front of a car." Q:
"What are you looking for?" A: "I'm looking for no
traffic." That phrase no traffic is very important,
because most children first answer "I'm looking for
traffic." Certainly they are, but if they see traffic
they should wait and look again until they see no
traffic. Emphasizing the phrase no traffic tells
them what they must see before they make their
move.
Once the student can perform the correct
sequence of motions in the absence of traffic and
knows why he must do them, he is ready to learn
how to adjust that performance to whatever traffic
may be present. You watch for the simplest traffic
situation to develop, and then start the student
through the maneuver. If the student is learning to
turn left, the simplest traffic situation is when a car
is a long way behind him. The student looks, sees
the car behind, and may either wait before moving
to the center of the road or may move directly.
Because the car is a long way behind, it doesn't
really matter which the student does, or even if he
doesn't see the car. You observe what happens to
determine that the student is actually observing
the car, not merely turning his head without seeing
anything. If that student does well, then on his
next repetition allow a car to get closer before
starting the student through the maneuver. When
you are sure that the student shows judgement in

determining whether there is sufficient time to
move to the center before an overtaking car
reaches him, then you start the student when a
car is immediately adjacent to his position so that
he has to wait.
Once the student has demonstrated good
judgement about overtaking cars, you start him
through the left-turn maneuver when a car is
approaching from a long way ahead. As the stu-
dent develops his skill in judging cars from ahead,
you start him so that he will reach the intersection
just as a car arrives from ahead. You, the instruc-
tor, have to remember the progress that each stu-
dent has made, so that you start each student
through the maneuver under conditions that suit
his state of skill. Once all the students have mas-
tered the skills of judging cars from both behind
and ahead, you move the class to a busier inter-
section where there is a good chance that the stu-
dents will meet cars coming from both directions
simultaneously.
11.4.2 SELECTING AND USING APPROPRIATE
SITES AND ROUTES
It is more difficult when teaching children to
find appropriate locations for teaching each
maneuver, than it is for adult classes. The short
class session and the children's slower speed limit
the radius from the class site within which teach-
ing can be done. The children need to start in eas-
ier conditions than adults, and they cannot ride
through difficult conditions to reach the practice
site. These conditions reduce the proportion of
places that are suitable for teaching each maneu-
ver. In addition, parents may object, on grounds of
safety, to certain sites or to the use of certain
routes to reach teaching sites. These objections
may have no relation to the actual chances of an
accident, but those parents who make them will
have strong beliefs in the validity of their fears.
Because their objections are based on fear
rather than knowledge, these parents must be
handled with tact and their concerns must be
addressed. Otherwise they will kill the program.
You must identify a site or route for each step
of the instruction, generally at least three sites for
each maneuver, each site offering a different
degree of difficulty. With elementary-school stu-
dents you will need one site for each group in the
class. You must select a route to each site that
does not require a maneuver that hasn't been pre-
viously learned. Of course, you can avoid making
a left turn by making three right turns around the
block, and you can collect the students into one
69
group and shepherd them across a busy street. If
the area has many suitable sites and most of the
streets are suitable, it is likely that from these you
will be able to prepare an acceptable plan. How-
ever, if the area has few suitable sites and many
streets that will be objected to, you have a more
difficult problem.
One tactic in dealing with the objections of
parents is to find out where their children are
riding today, both to and from school and for recre-
ation and transportation. Spend some time
observing the child cyclists in the neighborhood
and counting the number that pass various places.
Find out from the school staff and faculty
how much they know about which routes the chil-
dren use. It may be possible to arrange a meeting
at which many children mark on one map the
routes that they cycle, both to and from school and
for other purposes. (If you do this, cover the map
with a clear plastic sheet and have the children
draw with pens that write on the plastic. Then one
map can serve for many collections, and for other
purposes.) Then select your instructional sites
and routes considering the streets that are actu-
ally used. If there are objections to your selec-
tions, you answer that you are teaching the
students to be safe on the routes that they are
already using.
11.4.3 IDENTIFYING STUDENTS BY NUMBERS
It is practically impossible for the instructor to
identify all the students by name when the class is
on the road with most students facing away from
the instructor. The students must carry number
placards and be identified by number. One design
for the number placards is shown in Fig. 3. At the
first session, assign each student a number that
will be used throughout the course and issue the
matching placard. At the close of the session, all
students return the placard, to be reissued at roll
call of the next session. By the second session
even grade three students know how to tie the
placard in place, and most will have learned their
number. They may well take to calling each other
by number.
11.4.4 USE OF THE VOICE RECORDER
Use the voice recorder on every session, not
just for examinations. You, the instructor, should
use the voice recorder and the numbering system
to emphasize to the students that you know what
each student is doing and are recording your
observations. Give praise and criticism by number,
and voice-record the maneuvers made during

each ride and the errors that are made by each
student, designated by number. Don't record com-
ments made during the repeated practices of the
maneuver being taught, because the students are
still learning and there are too many comments
with too little background information. Recording
your evaluations by number both keeps the stu-
dents on their best behavior and gives them confi-
dence that you are doing your job of evaluating
their performance. Many students start the course
expecting that the examination will be easy or stu-
pid. Recording your evaluations as each maneu-
ver is performed on a ride and playing them back
to the students at the close of each session shows
the students that you know what they do and are
judging fairly, just as you will be doing on the final
examination.
When you play back your evaluations at the
end of each session, some students may object to
some aspect of the evaluations. One may com-
plain that somebody else made the same mistake
that you described for him, but you didn't record
that. Make the point that you record only the
maneuvers that were made on the ride and the
errors in each of those that you personally
observed. You might not see all the errors, or not
be sure that some action was an error, but you
took care that you did not say that something was
wrong unless you were sure.
11.4.5 TYPICAL CLASS SESSIONS
There is no time to waste in any session. The
cycling classroom must have easy access to the
bicycle parking area and to the street, and be able
to hold both the students at chairs with writing
arms and when standing with their bicycles for
equipment demonstrations. Have the students col-
lect their bicycles and don their helmets and
proper shoes during the passing time and be
ready to ride when they appear at the classroom
with their bicycles.
During the passing time, the instructor and
assistants change the tape cassettes in the voice
recorders, sort the number placards into numeri-
cal sequence, and get ready whatever papers are
needed for the next class.
Check the roll while issuing the number plac-
ards. Give a short talk (5 minutes is useful, 10
minutes is too long) on the maneuver to be
learned in that session, and get the class on the
road.
The format of the road sessions varies with
the age of the students. Younger students need
more individual practice and learn less from class
70
rides than do older students. For grade three stu-
dents, much of the road time is assigned to small
group practice of each maneuver, so that the class
ride from the school is quickly dispersed into small
groups, each under an assistant instructor, for
practice at separate sites. Because these stu-
dents vary widely in their energy and have little
self-control, it is useful to group them by their
energy levels. Those who want to ride fast are
then sent to the farthest sites to burn off a bit of
energy before starting to learn. Once at the site,
the instructor has the students wait at the place
from which they will start the maneuver, in a line
along the curb, while he describes and demon-
strates the maneuver and what he wants them to
do after it is complete. (Such as: "Then wait there
by the curb until I tell you to come back.") Then he
instructs each student in turn to start when he is
told. Each student in turn then practices the
maneuver, returning to the start as instructed and
lining up for his next practice run. When the time
allowed has elapsed or the students show suffi-
cient progress, the assistant instructor in charge
of the group leads a group ride back to the ren-
dezvous point, which may be either the classroom
or some intermediate point. If it is an intermediate
point, then the whole class makes a class ride
before returning to the classroom.
Grade seven students are introduced to each
new maneuver with individual practice at one site,
but quickly progress to practicing during the class
ride. Only occasionally with a large class is it nec-
essary to split a grade seven class into smaller
groups for practice. Since most of their learning
occurs during class rides, the instructor must plan
more routes and fewer sites for grade seven stu-
dents than for grade three students. Grade five
students are somewhere in between these two
extremes.
During class rides the instructors station
themselves along the line of students so that they
can observe what is going on and issue instruc-
tions and directions. With young students an
instructor must be at or very near the head of the
line to tell them which way to go and to give an
example of what to do. With older students who
know the way, there is less need to be at the head
of the line. Those instructors who have voice
recorders use them to record the maneuvers
made and any errors that students make, or other
comments on the actions of students. One instruc-
tor must be assigned to be the last person on the
ride, and has the task of returning any students
who have trouble or fall behind.

Once the class has returned to the class-
room, the instructor may give a short talk about
what the students have learned and what he has
observed, and may play back a portion of the tape
recorded comments if he thinks that these illus-
trate his points. Then the students doff their plac-
ards and, just before the passing bell, leave to
return their bicycles to the parking racks and to
take off their helmets and, if worn, cycling shoes.
11.4.6 LOOKING BEHIND PRACTICE AND
TEST
This is the only playground exercise in the
course. Its objective is to determine that all stu-
dents can look behind on either side while holding
a straight course. Indicate to the students a loop
course around the playground area that has at
least one straight stretch. First have all the stu-
dents ride around the loop in the clockwise direc-
tion while you station yourself on the outside of the
straight stretch. Have all the students turn to look
back at you over their left shoulders after they
pass you. Indicate by voice or gesture that those
who look at you and hold a straight course are to
leave the circuit. Continue until all have shown that
they can look behind at you while holding a
straight course. Then have them ride the circuit in
the anti-clockwise direction so that they look at
you over their right shoulders, and repeat the pro-
cedure.
11.4.7 CLOTHING REQUIREMENTS
Students do not need special clothes for the
Effective Cycling course, although not all the
clothes that they might wear to school are suit-
able. However, since the students who would take
the class are those who cycle to school, at least
while they are enrolled in the course, they will
have arrived with clothes that they can cycle in.
The most frequent problem is shoes, for they
may cycle to school in shoes that are not suitable
for cycling. Students are required to appear for the
cycling class in completely closed, well-fitting, low
heeled shoes with laces or straps. Shoes that
have open toes or that may be kicked off without
unlacing or unbuckling are not allowed for safety
reasons. Boots are discouraged because they
interfere with good pedalling.
Helmets meeting the Z-90 standard should
be required, and if not required should be encour-
aged, as is true for all cycling.
11.4.8 USE OF RADIO COMMUNICATIONS
Some classes have used two-way pocket
71
radios for communication between students and
the instructor during class rides. The etiquette is
the same as for speaking in a classroom. The
instructor may transmit at any time, but a student
is allowed to transmit only after he has raised his
hand and has been recognized by the instructor's
transmission: "Yes, Number Ten." Radio communi-
cation enables one instructor to stay near the rear
of the line so he can observe the actions but still
talk to the whole class at one time. With older stu-
dents this saves time because the class doesn't
have to close up and wait whenever the instructor
needs to tell them something. With younger stu-
dents and their smaller groups, radio communica-
tion does not save so much, but communication
between the instructors would probably be benefi-
cial. Whether the pocket-sized radios that are
available are able to communicate for the dis-
tances by which groups might be separated can
be determined only by experiment.
11.5 PERSONNEL REQUIRED
Each class requires a qualified EC instructor
and one or more assistants. For grade three stu-
dents there should be an instructor or an assistant
instructor for every seven students, while for grade
seven students there should be an instructor or
assistant for every ten to fifteen students. There-
fore, these programs require about one and one
half instructor hours per student for grade seven
or about two instructor hours per student for grade
three.
11.6 SUGGESTED CLASS SCHED-
ULES FOR GRADES 3, 5, AND 7
These schedules are based on 20 periods of
45-50 minutes each.
The student text (to be issued to parents of
the grade 3 students) is Effective Cycling at the
Intermediate Level.
11.7 EFFECTIVE CYCLING FOR
GRADE 3
11.7.1 Before The Course Starts
Two weeks before course starts, send par-
ents of each enrolled child the text Effective
Cycling at the Intermediate Level, with instructions
to:
1: Read the text and be prepared to discuss any
questions the child may bring home during the
course.
 72

2: Inspect the bicycle to be used according to the 11.7.6.4 Practical

instructions in ECIM and bring it up to acceptable Playground circuit practice of looking over
standard. shoulder and test.
3: Sign the inspection and permission forms and
return them to the school. 11.7.7 Session 7

11.7.2 Session 1 11.7.7.1 Lecture

Left turn technique.
11.7.2.1 Lecture
Assign number placards & show how to don. 11.7.7.2 Practical
Collect bicycle inspection forms. Practice left turns in small groups at residen-
With students on bicycles leaning against tial intersections.
wall, inspect for major mechanical defects and for
correct posture adjustments. Give a short lecture 11.7.8 Session 8
on the traffic system and cooperative cycling.
11.7.8.1 Lecture
11.7.3 Session 2 Review left turn technique.

11.7.3.1 Lecture 11.7.8.2 Practical

Show Bicycling Safely on the Road, with More left turn practice in small groups at res-
introductory talk first, discussion afterwards. idential intersections.
11.7.9 Session 9
11.7.4 Session 3
11.7.9 Practical
11.7.4.1 Lecture
Yielding to crossing traffic. 11.7.9.1 Class recreational/instructional ride
incorporating residential stop signs, right turns,
11.7.4.2 Practical left turns, and a short but fast ride for fun.
Driveway exiting practice in small groups.
11.7.10 Session 10
11.7.5 Session 4
11.7.10.1 Practical
11.7.5.1 Lecture Stop sign practice in small groups across
Review yielding to crossing traffic. streets with medium traffic. Practice in estimating
speed and distance of cars to determine what are
11.7.5.2 Practical safe clearance conditions.
Stop sign practice in small groups across a
street with some slow traffic. Practice in estimating 11.7.11 Session 11
the speed and distance of cars and the conditions
for safe clearance. 11.7.11.1 Practical
Class recreational/instructional ride that
11.7.6 Session 5 reviews all basics on residential streets.

11.7.6.1 Lecture 11.7.12 Session 12

Yielding to cross traffic, quick oral review.
11.7.12.1 Lecture
11.7.6.2 Practical The concept of taking turns at 4-way stop
Class ride incorporating stop signed inter- signs.
sections.
11.7.12.2 Practical
11.7.6.3 Session 6 Lecture Small group practice at 4-way stop signed
Review of previous week's work. Looking intersection.
over shoulder. Yielding to overtaking traffic.
11.7.13 Session 13
 73

11.7.13.1 Practical 11.7.20.1 Awards

Class recreational/instructional ride with
emphasis on stop signed intersections, may
include both right and left turns also.
11.7.14 Session 14
11.7.14.1 Lecture
Traffic signals.
11.7.14.2 Practical
Rides to and practice in small groups at inter-
sections with traffic signals. Select intersections
with at least one 2-lane road, and enter the inter-
sections only on 2-lane roads.
11.7.15 Session 15
11.7.15.1 Practical
Class recreational/instructional ride incorpo-
rating all the maneuvers covered so far.
Award of Effective Cycling League Patches
and Certificates.
11.8 EFFECTIVE CYCLING FOR
GRADE 5
11.8.1 Before the Course
Two weeks before course starts, send parents of
each enrolled child the text Effective Cycling at the
Intermediate Level, with instructions to:
1: Read the text and be prepared to discuss any
questions the child may bring home during the
course.
2: Inspect the bicycle to be used according to the
instructions in ECIM and bring it up to accept-
able standard.
3: Sign the inspection and permission forms and
return them to the school.
11.8.2 Session 1

11.7.16 Session 16 11.8.2.1 Lecture

11.7.16.1 Lecture
Review yielding to overtaking traffic.
11.7.16.2 Practical
Small group practice of left turns on collector
streets with medium traffic, where students can
expect to interact with cars from both directions.
Some groups may not reach this level; for them,
more left turn practice on low traffic streets.
11.7.17 Session 17
Assign number placards & show how to don.
Collect bicycle inspection forms. With stu-
dents on bicycles leaning against a wall, inspect
for major mechanical defects and for correct pos-
ture adjustments. Give short lecture on the traffic
system and cooperative cycling.
11.8.3 Session 2
11.8.3.1 Lecture
Show Bicycling Safety on the Road. Introduc-
tory talk first, discussion afterwards.

11.7.17.1 Lecture 11.8.4 Session 3

Repeat 16
11.8.4.1 11.8.4.1 Lecture
11.7.17.2 Practical Yielding to crossing traffic.
Repeat 16, progressing as far as each group
warrants. 11.8.4.2 11.8.4.2 Practical
Driveway exiting practice, residential street
11.7.18 Session 18 stop sign practice.

11.7.18.1 Practical 11.8.5 Session 4

Review of all previous work on a class ride.
11.8.5.1 Lecture
11.7.19 Sessions 19 & 20 Review yielding to crossing traffic.

11.7.19.1 Cycling proficiency tests of all students 11.8.5.2 2 Practical

for final examination. Stop sign practice across street with several
cars a minute. Practice in estimating the speed
11.7.20 After the Course and distance of cars and the conditions for safe
 74

clearance. 11.8.11.2 Practical

More left turn practice. 4-way stop sign.
11.8.6 Session 5
11.8.6.1 Lecture 11.8.12 Session 11
Yielding to overtaking traffic.
11.8.12.1 Lecture
11.8.6.1 Practical Review all previous work.
Playground circuit practice in looking over
the shoulder, and test. When all students can look 11.8.12.2 Practical
behind, move to residential street with substan- Class recreational/instructional ride that
tially no traffic for practice of left turns. Work to get reviews all previous work.
correct track and sequence.
11.8.13 Session 12
11.8.7 Session 6
11.8.13.1 Lecture
11.8.7.1 Lecture Traffic signals.
Review of previous work. Left turns.
11.8.13.2 Practical
11.8.7.2 2 Practical Straight, right turn, left turn at traffic signals.
Left turns at intersections of residential
streets. 11.8.14 Session 13

11.8.8 11.8.8 Session 7 11.8.14.1 Lecture

Intersection positioning by avoiding right-
11.8.8.1 Lecture turn-only lane.
Review left turns.
11.8.14.2 Practical
11.8.8.2 Practical Practice in going straight at intersections with
Left turns on collector streets with more traf- right-turn-only lanes.
fic. Practice in estimating the conditions for safe
clearance. 11.8.15 Session 14

11.8.9 Session 8 11.8.15.1 Lecture

Intersection positioning on 4-lane streets.
11.8.9.1 Practical
Class recreational/instructional ride including 11.8.15.2 Practical
stop signs, right turns, left turns on residential and Class recreational/instructional ride with left,
collector streets. straight, and right turns at 4-lane intersections
with light traffic.
11.8.10 Session 9
11.8.16 Session 15
11.8.10.1 11.8.10.1 Lecture
Intersection positioning with left-turn-only 11.8.16.1 Repeat 14.
lanes.
11.8.17 Session 16
11.8.10.2 Practical
Left turns from a 2-lane road at an intersec- 11.8.17.1 Lecture
tion with a left-turn-only lane. Speed positioning, with emphasis on not
overtaking between slow car and curb, or between
11.8.11 Session 10 slow bicycle and curb.

11.8.11.1 Lecture 11.8.17.2 Practical

Taking turns at 4-way stop signs. Class ride performing all maneuvers in shop-
ping traffic.
 75

11.8.18 Session 17 11.9.4.1 Demonstration

Teach students how to fix flats.
11.8.18.1 Repeat 16.
11.9.5 Session 4
11.8.19 Session 18
11.9.5.1 Demonstration
11.8.19.1 Lecture Teach students how to adjust their brakes.
Review. Talk about interacting with motorists
in complicated situations, using examples that 11.9.6 Session 5
have arisen during the previous sessions.
11.9.6.1 Demonstration
11.8.19.2 Practical Teach students how to adjust gear cables
Class ride in shopping traffic. and stops.

11.8.20 Sessions 19 & 20 11.9.7 Session 6

11.8.20.1 Cycling proficiency tests of all students 11.9.7.1 Lecture

for final examination. Cyclists are drivers. Show Bicycling Safely
on the Road.
11.8.21 After the Course
11.9.8 Session 7
11.8.21.1 Awards
Award of Effective Cycling League Patches 11.9.8.1 Lecture
and Certificates. Yielding to cross traffic.

11.9 EFFECTIVE CYCLING FOR 11.9.8.2 Practical

GRADE 7 Starting and stopping. Yielding to cross traf-
fic 1.
11.9.1 Before the Course
Two weeks before course starts, send parents of 11.9.9 Session 8
each enrolled child the text Effective Cycling at the
Intermediate Level, with instructions to: 11.9.9.1 Lecture
1: Read the text and be prepared to discuss any Review yielding to cross traffic.
questions the child may bring home during the
course. 11.9.9.2 Practical
2: Inspect the bicycle to be used according to the Yielding to cross traffic 2. 2-mile ride with no
instructions in ECIM and bring it up to accept- left turns.
able standard.
3: Sign the inspection and permission forms and 11.9.10 Session 9
return them to the school.
11.9.10.1 Lecture
11.9.2 Session 1 Yielding to overtaking traffic. Left turns on 2-
lane street.
11.9.2.1 Demonstration
Teach students to do the bicycle mechanical 11.9.10.2 Practical
check. Looking behind playground test. Left turns on
2-lane residential streets with some traffic.
11.9.3 Session 2
11.9.11 Session 10
11.9.3.1 Demonstration
Teach students the correct posture and show 11.9.11.1 Lecture
them how to adjust their bikes for correct posture. Review left turns on 2-lane streets.

11.9.4 Session 3 11.9.11.2 2 Practical

 76

Left turns on 2-lane streets with moderate 11.9.17.2 Practical

traffic. 2-mile ride. More cycling on multi-lane streets with con-
siderable traffic. Have students try to estimate
11.9.12 Session 11 whether cars ahead will be turning right or going
straight.
11.9.12.1 Lecture
Intersection positioning. 11.9.18 Session 17

11.9.12.2 Practical 11.9.18.1 Lecture

3-mile ride, partly in business district, left Cyclist's lane rule.
turns on 2-lane streets.
11.9.18.2 Practical
11.9.13 Session 12 Left turns where there are multiple left-turn
lanes.
11.9.13.1 Lecture
Changing lanes 11.9.19 Session 18

11.9.13.2 Practical 11.9.19.1 Lecture

Avoiding right-turn-only lanes. 3 to 4-mile Vehicular cycling principle. Where to learn
ride. more.

11.9.14 Session 13 11.9.19.2 Practical

Review ride over intricate route, 3 to 4 miles.
11.9.14.1 Lecture
Changing lanes. 11.9.20 Sessions 19 & 20

11.9.14.2 Practical 11.9.20.1 Cycling proficiency testing. Written

Left turns on multi-lane streets. Left turns examination.
with left-turn-only lanes. 3 to 4-mile ride.
11.9.20.2 After the Course
11.9.15 Session 14 Praise the students, etc.
11.9.21.1 Awards
11.9.15.1 Lecture Award of Effective Cycling League Patches
Review intersection positioning. and Certificates.

11.9.15.2 Practical
3 to 4-mile ride with left turns on multi-lane 12 TESTING PROFICIENCY OF
streets and streets with left-turn-only lanes, con- STUDENTS
siderable traffic.
12.1 THE CYCLING PROFICIENCY
11.9.16 Session 15
TEST
11.9.16.1 Lecture
Speed positioning. Review changing lanes. 12.1.1 IMPORTANCE OF THE TEST
The cycling proficiency test is very important
11.9.16.2 Practical for the student, the instructor and the Effective
More cycling on multi-lane streets with con- Cycling Program; and it has some importance for
siderable traffic. society. The cycling proficiency test must be reli-
able, accurate and respected, characteristics that
11.9.17 Session 16 cannot be acquired by cursory evaluations of the
students' performances.
11.9.17.1 Lecture For the student, the purpose of the Effective
Speed positioning. Avoiding getting on right- Cycling course is not merely to pass the test,
hand side of right-turning cars. although many of the younger students might see

it in that light. It is to develop the skills of safe and
enjoyable cycling that will last a lifetime and be
available whenever the former student wants to
cycle, for whatever purpose he chooses to do so.
Since cycling incompetently is dangerous, the test
must detect the incompetent students for further
training or eventual classification as persons who
should not cycle. Those who pass ought to be
able to handle themselves in all the situations that
they are likely to meet on the roads, taking into
allowance the more limited choices allowed to
young cyclists. Respected tests have a psycho-
logical benefit also. The student must be con-
vinced that the test reflects the real-life situations
that he meets on the roads and that it is graded so
that it is a test of real competence. Those who
know that such a test lies before them they are
much more likely to learn well, and those who
pass a test that they believe is valid are much
more likely to value and practice the knowledge
and skills that they have acquired.
The instructor needs a reliable, accurate and
respected test that will justify the grades that he
assigns and will demonstrate to those who ques-
tion it that his Effective Cycling courses have
taught students how to ride properly, as demon-
strated by the items tested and the scores
achieved by the students.
The Effective Cycling Program benefits when
its students pass reliable, accurate and respected
tests because that demonstrates that the program
is reliable and effective and provides continuing
assurance that the instructors are teaching as
they should. Today, all educational programs and
teachers in the public schools are under some
scrutiny to determine whether their students are
learning what the public thinks is necessary.
Because it is a non-academic program about a
subject that the public believes has no content,
Effective Cycling must develop great respect for it
to succeed in the schools. That applies only indi-
rectly to the Effective Cycling courses and instruc-
tors in areas such as adult education, recreation,
cycling clubs and other cycling organizations.
However, we must also consider the broader
aspects: the Effective Cycling Program has more
goals than just teaching people how to ride prop-
erly. It aims to develop a public that is better
informed about cycling, to raise the social status
of cyclists as responsible drivers of vehicles, and
thereby to protect the rights of cyclists against
legal discriminations, both those that now exist
and those that periodically threaten us. To ensure
that Effective Cycling is, and is seen to be, an
77
effective, high-quality program requires that its
graduating standards are as high as the condi-
tions that its graduates must meet on the road.
The cycling proficiency test determines whether
students are qualified to ride on the roads in traf-
fic. Therefore, it is the most important part of the
final examination. For younger students, it is the
only final examination because it is the only way
for them to demonstrate that they have acquired
the skills. Older students also take a written exam-
ination because they can demonstrate their under-
standing of the theory of cycling in traffic and
because they study additional matters that can be
tested in written examinations.
12.1.2 COMPARISON OF TEST METHODS
The Effective Cycling Program's cycling pro-
ficiency test is an advance over previous methods
in that it is both accurate and economical. The
classic method of testing motorists is to have the
applicant take the examiner for a drive. The exam-
iner tells the applicant where to go and writes
down his evaluation as the applicant drives over
the test route. This can't be done for cyclists
because the applicant's bicycle can't carry the
examiner and the examiner can't write while riding
his own bicycle. It also is expensive because the
examiner can examine only one person at a time,
and because bicycles are slower than cars each
cycling examination is likely to take longer to cover
the same scope. However, it does allow the exam-
iner to vary the route according to conditions and
to enable him to retest for any item about which he
is doubtful.
The European nations where cycling is popu-
lar developed the multiple stationary observer
technique for testing large numbers of students,
as when a course has been given at a school. The
test route is predetermined and observers are sta-
tioned at critical points around it. Each observer
observes the one maneuver that is done at his
location, and has a score sheet with that maneu-
ver and its mistakes listed upon it. As each stu-
dent passes him, the observer writes down the
student's identifying number (printed in large
numerals on a vest) and whether the student
passes or fails in the maneuver. After all students
have completed the test ride, the observers'
results are collated and those students who have
passed all maneuvers are awarded certificates.
This system has several disadvantages. It
has the decided organizational defect of requiring
a large number of observers for a relatively short
time. In America, where qualified observers are

scarce, this is a practical impossibility. It also has
the scientific defect that the observers cannot see
the whole ride, and in fact the observer assigned
to one maneuver often cannot see the whole
maneuver that he is evaluating. For example,
when making a left turn on a busy multilane street
the act of changing lanes may occur at any point
in a quarter-mile and may be concealed from a
stationary observer by intervening traffic. The
Europeans avoid this difficulty by testing students
only under unrealistically easy conditions, largely
without traffic. Therefore their tests can show only
that the students have learned the correct
sequence of motions, without evaluating their skill
at judging conditions and acting accordingly.
Some investigators have used a car to follow
cyclists, with one person driving and another
observing the cyclist and writing down the obser-
vations. This is both expensive and inaccurate. It
is inaccurate because the slow-moving car upsets
the traffic pattern so that the other drivers do not
behave normally around the cyclist.
The Effective Cycling Program's cycling pro-
ficiency test uses a single cycling examiner who
follows and observes a group of students and
records his observations with a voice recorder.
The students are identified by large numerals
worn on the back. At intervals, the examiner
catches up to the leaders and gives new instruc-
tions about the next portion of the test route and
rearranging the students' positions in the group.
When the examiner is satisfied that he has
observed all the students in the group under all of
the standard conditions and is confident of his
results, he directs the group back to the base.
After all the test rides, the voice recorded observa-
tions are tallied onto individual score sheet forms
and the individual scores are calculated. The
score-sheet forms are given as Figs 7 and 8. This
clerical process may be done by hand or by keying
the observations into a personal computer pro-
gram that assigns points, calculates scores and
prints out the individual score sheets.
12.1.3 THE TEST SCORING SYSTEM
The cycling proficiency test evaluates each
student throughout a test ride of any length and
configuration. The score that is developed reflects
the student's skill in handling all the conditions
that he encounters during the test ride, and there-
fore, provided that all the standard conditions are
encountered, it is independent of the length of the
ride and of its particular circumstances. Each
standard maneuver has been assigned a point
78
value that the student earns whenever he per-
forms that maneuver, and these are added to form
his total possible points. Each of the common mis-
takes in that maneuver has also been assigned a
point value. For each mistake the student makes,
the point value of that mistake is subtracted from
his total possible points to form his actual earned
points. The ratio of actual earned points to possi-
ble points is the percent score for his test. The
point values have been selected according to sev-
eral considerations. The possible points for each
maneuver have been selected according to the
difficulty, importance and danger of the maneuver.
If the maneuver is difficult, important in cycling,
and if improperly done is quite liable to produce
serious adverse consequences, it has a high point
value. If the maneuver is easy, not of great impor-
tance, and has little likelihood of adverse conse-
quences, it has a low point value.
The points for mistakes have been assigned
so that a maneuver in which student makes the
worst tolerable mistake contributes a value of 70%
to the final score. A maneuver in which any
greater mistake is made, or more than one mis-
take, contributes a value of less than 70%. In this
way the final score is a weighted average score
that considers both the importance of the maneu-
vers and their frequency in a ride, and is based on
a 70% passing score. In this way the score
reflects the student's actual ability in rides similar
to those of the test.
The instructor may adjust each run of the test
to correct for statistical or accidental variations. If
he plans a test ride that includes three stop signs,
and at every one of these there is so much traffic
that the students have to stop in any case, he can
redirect the ride to include another stop sign
where the students can show the proper behavior
when there is no traffic to enforce it. This change
will not upset the scoring system because it is
based on the proportion of maneuvers done cor-
rectly, not upon any preselected number of
maneuvers.
12.1.4 GIVING THE PROFICIENCY TEST
The instructor must first decide whether he
can give the test to all the students in the class at
one time or whether he must break the class into
groups. The age of the students and the type of
class determine the maximum size of test groups.
For school-type classes with short sessions, in
which the training is limited to traffic cycling, the
best arrangement is to break the class into groups
of no more than eight students who ride a short

test circuit of about two to three miles that has
several examples of each type of maneuver. The
instructor can examine two of these groups in
each session of 40 minutes while the assistants
ready the other students for test rides and give
written tests, opinion questionnaires, or tests of
mechanical safety inspection skill. For adult-type
classes in which all the cycling skills are taught in
three-hour sessions under one instructor, the final
examination session typically starts with a written
examination, continues with a traffic ride of ten
miles or so in which all students are evaluated and
the class moves to the site of the time trial, and
ends with the final time trial. During the longer
ride, the students are observed in groups of up to
10 at a time and a full class of 30 students can be
tested. The instructor should also consider how
the route can be amplified to obtain additional
observations of any maneuver if for some reason
he does not obtain good observations of that
maneuver.
With the desired duration in mind, the
instructor must design a route that includes sev-
eral examples of all the standard maneuvers and
at least one of any unusual maneuvers or condi-
tions that may be found locally, such as diagonal
railroad tracks. For an adult-type course with a
single long test route, there should be sufficient
examples of the standard maneuvers so that each
test group has to handle several. If only one exam-
ple of each of the rarer conditions and maneuvers
can be found, then the instructor must be careful
to observe all the students at those places.
Before the test the instructor must see that
the batteries in the voice recorder are fresh and
the recorder is working properly. The instructor
must obtain sufficient score sheets for the size of
group, allowing for some spoilage. He needs to
review the test score sheet so that he remembers
the names of the maneuvers and the names of the
listed mistakes for each one. Even if number plac-
ards were not used in the normal sessions, the
students need to wear these for the test.
At the start of the test, the instructor assem-
bles the test group and reminds them of certain
principles. Each rider is to rely only on himself and
must not merely follow the leader; the leader may
be wrong, or conditions may change after the
leader makes any maneuver. If the instructor sees
that students are following each other, he will
order them to change positions. This is not a test
of speed, and those in the lead must not leave the
others behind. If the rear of the group is delayed,
for instance by a traffic light, then the leaders must
79
wait for the rear to catch up. They must all stay
within sight of the instructor, so that he can
observe their behavior. He then describes the test
route, or at least the first part of it.
To ensure that the records are kept straight,
the instructor then records on the voice recorder
the date, location and class and group numbers
and the name and number of each of the students
in the test group. He then starts the group off and
follows.
As each maneuver or condition occurs, the
instructor gives its name. The assumption is that
all students in the group perform the maneuver or
handle the condition, unless otherwise stated.
The instructor then gives the number of any
student who makes a mistake and then the name
of the mistake. If the mistake is an unusual one
that is not listed, then the instructor describes the
mistake. If some unusual condition occurs and
some student handles this condition especially
well, then that is also described.
Whenever necessary, the instructor moves to
the front of the group and gives instructions about
the next sections of the route or to rearrange the
sequence of the students. The instructor consid-
ers whether he has been able to make valid
observations of all the standard maneuvers and
any others that he thinks should be included, and
if he has not he directs the group to take an addi-
tional section so that he can obtain valid observa-
tions. When satisfied, he directs the group back to
base. At the close of the test he records any last
comments and states the end of the test record for
that group.
After all the tests have been run, the instruc-
tor sets up to tally the observations. He rewinds
the voice recorder's tape to the beginning and
connects the recorder's foot switch. He sets out
his score sheets and electronic calculator on a
large table or starts up the computer program. The
paper method will be described here, and if the
instructor has the computer program he will follow
the slightly different instructions given with it. He
starts the tape and as each student and his num-
ber is read the instructor makes out a score sheet
for that student. He then spreads out the score
sheets on the large table in numerical order. Alter-
natively, if he has many assistants or has older
students who can tally for students not them-
selves, he assigns one sheet to each person. As
the voice recorder gives the name of a maneuver,
all sheets are marked with a tally mark in the top
box for that maneuver, thus indicating that the stu-
dent has performed that maneuver. As the number

of a student is given, followed by the name of a
mistake that he has made, that student's score
sheet is marked with a tally mark in the box for
that mistake. Whenever unlisted conditions or mis-
takes are described, a short note is made on the
appropriate score sheet. When the recorder says
that the test record is complete, tallying is com-
plete and the scores may be calculated. The
instructor first considers any comments about
unlisted conditions or mistakes, and determines
the points for each of these. Then all the scores
are calculated. The total possible points are first
calculated. This is done by running a cumulative
total of the number of times each maneuver is per-
formed multiplied by its point value. The total pos-
sible points is recorded on the score sheet and, if
possible, in the calculator's memory. Then the
points lost is calculated by running a cumulative
total of the number of times each mistake was
made multiplied by its point value. The total points
lost is recorded on the sheet and, again if possi-
ble, in the calculator's memory. The percent score
is then calculated by the formula:
S = 100(P - L)/P
where:
S is the score in percent
P is total possible points
L is total points lost
The minimum passing score is 70%.
12.2 WRITTEN TESTS
In the course for older students we teach
information and ways of thinking about cycling as
well as skills. For these older students, even the
skill of traffic cycling ought to have its verbal com-
ponent, for they benefit by being able to express in
words the theory that they are following. This
allows them to generalize so that they can apply
the theory to situations that they have not been
taught and so that they can describe the skill and
the theory to other people. In addition, we teach
information on mechanical maintenance and on
the various ways to enjoy cycling and to excel at it,
matters that would take an enormous time if they
were taught by having the students copy demon-
strations. More than imparting skills and informa-
tion, in some ways more important, we aim to
change our students' thinking about cycling, to
replace the conventional cyclist-inferiority super-
stition with the vehicular-cycling principle. This is
not merely teaching students to make the vehicu-
lar-style left turn or to ride on congested roads;
they may do these things while still believing that
80
they are doing something wrong or dangerous. It
is changing their beliefs to accept these actions as
normal and prudent. It is giving them the confi-
dence to continue to ride as we have taught them
in class. It is giving them the gift of rational thought
about cycling, so that they can ride properly, vote
properly on cycling matters, and influence others
through rational discourse.
Written tests are necessary to make sure
that our older students have learned this informa-
tion and believe the vehicular-cycling principle.
They are also important in demonstrating to
educational institutions that the course has a
book-learning component that requires study time
in addition to class hours, and should be given
appropriate credits.
There are two kinds of question for written
tests, multiple-choice and essay. Each has its
advantages. Multiple-choice questions rapidly
screen for knowledge of those facts that are easily
stated. Essay questions disclose depth of under-
standing as well as knowledge, and are applicable
to matters that are not easily stated or for which
there are several correct answers or several
aspects to the correct answer.
There are also some misconceptions about these
types of question. One is that multiple-choice
questions provide objective results while essay
questions give subjective results. This is not so;
both types depend on the opinions and skill of the
instructor who wrote the questions. The fact that a
given multiple-choice answer sheet may be
graded in only one way does not make it an objec-
tive test, merely one that has only one grading
system. I have reviewed multiple-choice questions
about cycling in which the correct answer was not
graded as correct but as wrong, and seen others
in which none of the choices was the correct
answer, and others in which no answers were pos-
sible to the question as asked. There are also fre-
quent cases in other subjects where partly-
informed students choose the answer that is
graded as correct but where well-informed experts
choose another answer. In short, the student tak-
ing the test often bases his choice of answers on
which one he thinks the instructor wants rather
than on which is most correct. Contrariwise, essay
questions do not require subjective grading. If an
answer ought to have five points, say A, B, C, D, E,
F, the student who makes those five points gets a
perfect score for that part of the grade. If these
points should be logically related in the sequence
C, D, A, B, F, then the student who shows this rela-
tionship gets a perfect score for that part of the

grade. Certainly, some students will express their
answers with better logic and clarity than others,
but since one aim of the course is to develop peo-
ple who are well-educated about cycling, logic and
clarity in expressing cycling thoughts deserve
some weight in the grade.
Another misconception about the differences
between multiple-choice and essay questions is
that multiple-choice questions are easier and take
less time to administer. This is not so. Good multi-
ple-choice questions are extremely difficult to
design, even when the question involves a simple
question of fact. It is not sufficient to invent a ques-
tion and a correct answer; you have to invent three
other equally-plausible incorrect answers to the
same question. Take a very simple question:
Which transfers power to the chain: A, chain-
wheel; B, sprocket; C, crank; D, handlebar? The
obviously correct answer is A, but this is correct
only if the bicycle has a free-running freewheel
and we are talking about the cyclist's power. (On a
fixed-gear bicycle, the sprocket also transfers
power to the chain.) Even then, answer C is also
correct, for the cranks carry the power that ends
up in the chain. Answer D, the handlebar, is obvi-
ously incorrect, so that the question really is a
choice of one in three instead of one in four, a
probability that upsets the correction factor that is
applied to allow for correct wild guesses. Once the
question involves more than a simple question of
fact, designing multiple-choice questions
becomes extremely complicated. They must also
be verified, to determine that in fact well-informed
subjects uniformly give the answers that are
assumed to be correct. Essay questions do not
involve so much difficulty, for they are somewhat
self-adjusting. If the instructor does not put all the
conditions into the question, then the students
need to give different answers for each of the pos-
sible conditions, and that shows their understand-
ing of the problem. Certainly, it is easier for the
instructor to give and grade a multiple-choice
examination that somebody else has prepared for
him, but that will not give the results that we want
for the Effective Cycling Program.
The Cycling Proficiency Test is as standard-
ized as we can make it, considering the different
circumstances and surroundings under which it is
given, because driving techniques are standard.
The written tests should vary because the other
parts of the course vary according to the skills and
interests of the students. The instructor should
design the written test to test the knowledge that
he or she has tried to impart, to the degree of
81
complexity that the best students have compre-
hended. The subjects of the questions should be
allocated in two ways. Matters of driving technique
should be allocated according to their importance
in safe and effective cycling, which is how they
should have been presented during the course.
Other matters should be allocated according to
the emphasis given in the rest of the course.
For the typical adult course of thirty hours,
the written examination should be allowed one
hour. When grading the answers to essay ques-
tions, the instructor should have in mind a stan-
dard that contains the minimum for passing each
question. By and large, that ought to be the mini-
mum knowledge that will enable the student to
ride effectively and keep out of probable trouble.
Students who give this answer ought to receive
Cs. Students who give more complete answers
deserve Bs and As, while students who give less
must fail. Students who give substantially perfect
answers deserve As. When preparing to grade
papers, I sort them into three groups. The first I
can read and understand. The second I can read
but not understand, the third I have difficulty read-
ing and understanding. By the time I reach the
third group, I have acquired some understanding
of the typical answers, both correct and incorrect,
that aids me in grading the last papers.
12.2.1 TIME TRIAL TESTING
The time trial test should not be used to
determine whether a student passes or fails the
course, in fact its results should only rarely influ-
ence the final grade that a student receives. As is
the principle of time-trialling, the standard is not
the speed of the student relative to other students
or to some arbitrary standard, but it is the improve-
ment that each student makes between the first
and last time trials. Nearly all students will improve
markedly during the course; the average improve-
ment in my classes has been 20%. Naturally, if the
second trial is held under severely adverse condi-
tions, then the speeds may show a decrease. If
the students are already experienced club
cyclists, then there may be little or no improve-
ment.
The time trials have several purposes. They
give students an incentive to develop their speed
and endurance. They introduce students to an
enjoyable sport. They show students that riding
hard for half an hour or so does not destroy them
for the rest of the day (as most of them initially
think). They give excitement to the course. Using
the time trial tests wisely to accomplish these pur-

poses requires that you don't let the students
know that their actual speeds have little effect on
their grades. However, in your discussions after
the first time trial always emphasize that the real
criterion is the amount of individual improvement,
not the final speed.
12.3 MECHANICAL SKILLS TEST
The mechanical skills test substitutes for the
written test for those children who have been
taught some mechanical inspection and mainte-
nance skills but who are not old enough to give
clear written answers to questions on the subject.
In essence, the student is presented with the bicy-
cle or part of the bicycle with the appropriate tools
and is required to demonstrate some procedure.
The most frequent task is the mechanical safety
inspection, but another can be tire changing or
tube patching. The student should perform the
safety inspection complete because that is impor-
tant and takes little time. For any more complex
task there usually is insufficient time. For these
tasks, the student is asked to show which tools
are used when, and how they are to be used, with-
out actually doing the work. This may require sev-
eral test objects. A complete tire repair demon-
stration requires three test objects: a complete
bicycle, a complete wheel, and a tube, each with
its appropriate tools. The examiner may help the
child give a quick explanation by saying, "I under-
stand. Now what's next?", and even by pointing to
some other tool and asking, "What's that for?"
This is not a quick test and it must be given to
each child in turn, but it can be given by the assis-
tant instructors while the lead instructor is giving
the cycling proficiency tests to another group of
students.
12.4 TESTING FOR THE
EC CERTIFICATE
It is possible for cyclists to earn the EC certif-
icate without taking the course, by taking the tests
given at certain cycling events. The applicant first
takes a written test and then, if he passes it, he
may take the Cycling Proficiency Test. The
Cycling Proficiency Test is similar to those that are
given for the course, but the written test is differ-
ent. The written test is a fifty-question multiple-
choice test whose questions are selected from the
pool of questions. The pool now (July 1986) con-
tains 91 questions. The written test differs from
the written tests given as part of the courses for
several reasons. One reason is that a large num-
82
ber of applicants must be tested and graded in a
short time, so that they will know whether they are
qualified for the Cycling Proficiency Tests to be
given shortly. Another reason is that the questions
must be part of the core of the Effective Cycling
Program that everybody must know, and must not
go into matters that are considered in some
courses but not in others. For this reason, I con-
sider that an Effective Cycling Certificate earned
through the direct test procedure does not repre-
sent as much as one that has been earned
through a full adult course.
13 SPECIAL PROBLEMS
13.1 THE CYCLIST INFERIORITY
COMPLEX
The most serious difficulties in teaching
Effective Cycling are those that are caused by the
cyclist inferiority complex. Nearly every adult
American has been raised with deep-seated but
unrealistic fears about cycling in traffic. These
fears permeate his thinking about cycling and
make it very difficult for him to accept cycling
instruction. When he is first considering the Effec-
tive Cycling program, his fears tell him that Effec-
tive Cycling is dangerous because traffic is
dangerous, and that Effective Cycling must be
useless because traffic is so omnipotent that there
is nothing that the cyclist can do to prevent being
hit by cars. Even if he thinks that Effective Cycling
training can help prevent being hit by cars, he
thinks of it as only a better way to escape the cars.
These fears may keep him from ever joining
an Effective Cycling class. If he becomes a stu-
dent in an Effective Cycling course, these fears
prevent him from understanding that cycling in
traffic is little different from driving a car in traffic.
His fears will color his understanding of the
instructor's words, in effect translating the instruc-
tor's thoughts into a different language. In other
words, even though the instructor gives the correct
instructions the student learns incorrect instruc-
tions because his thoughts cannot accept instruc-
tions that contradict his fears of traffic.
In another context, one would think of this as
a psychological disturbance like the other com-
mon phobias, fears of crowds or of closed spaces,
for example. These require psychological treat-
ment to bring their victims to a more correct view
of reality and to enable them to function better in
the real world. That is exactly the view that one
would adopt if an English person developed the

American view of cycling, because then that pr-
son would have developed his view in a society
that does not create it.
However, in the American context we must
recognize that the cyclist inferiority complex is the
normal and natural result of the bike-safety train-
ing that Americans are given. American bike-
safety training is irrational because it contradicts
reality and attempts an impossible task. Because
it is based on the idea that traffic is so dangerous
that the cyclist can do nothing about it, bike-safety
training tries to create a system of cycling in which
the cyclist is driven by fear to stay away from the
cars yet is allowed to ride in traffic without having
any knowledge of how the traffic system operates
or any of the skills of cooperating with other driv-
ers. This is impossible; it can't be done; the cyclist
who follows such advice is going to kill himself.
Therefore, the American bike-safety system can
only be taught through fear alone without the help
of reason.
Of course, American bike-safety programs
use concepts that sound reasonable. For exam-
ple, they frequently repeat as a premise the
undoubted truth that cars are much heavier than
cyclists, coupling that with the conclusion, a sec-
ond undoubted truth, that cyclists must take spe-
cial care to avoid collisions. However reasonable
this sounds, this is not logic but merely creates
unreasonable fears of cars and unjustified belief in
the bike-safety system. It is not logic for two rea-
sons. First, the reason for avoiding collisions is not
the difference in weights but the fact that any colli-
sion, even between objects of equal weights, pro-
duces detrimental consequences that may be
extremely serious. Second, this seemingly logical
statement is used to justify the bike-safety method
of avoiding collisions, while in truth it does not
address the real question, whether vehicular
behavior or cyclist inferiority behavior best avoids
collisions. Thus, the seemingly logical statement
actually carries no reasonable content but doe
carry two strongly emotional concepts: cars are
big, heavy and dangerous and they act in danger-
ous ways because they are too big to have to
worry about collisions. Thus, this common state-
ment says two things in strongly emotional ways:
the only way to be safe on the road is to stay away
from the cars by following bike-safety instructions,
and cars have no organized code of behavior
except that of bullying those who are weak, the
cyclists. This emotional statement that no traffic
laws exist, or that if they do exist they are irrele-
vant to interactions between cyclists and motor-
83
ists, has far more effect in determining people's
beliefs, and hence ultimately their actions, than
does bike-safety's other statement, that cyclists
ought to obey all the other rules for motorists. The
parents, teachers and traffic officers who teach
bike safety are frightened of car-bike collisions
and express themselves in sentences that convey
fear to the students. The normal child's reaction
when his mentors show and express fear of some
object is to develop the same fear in himself. Nor-
mally, this is a life-preserving result; fear is auto-
matic and overrides rational thought, thus
providing a fast, automatic response to moments
of danger. However, this has its limitations. When
the fear is irrational, that is, the object is not dan-
gerous in the way feared or the automatic
response is not the best way of avoiding whatever
danger does exist, then the fear becomes a hin-
drance to learning the correct beliefs and meth-
ods.
The emotional state of fear prevents the mind
from accepting thoughts that contradict or invali-
date that fear. That fear is life-preserving; matters
of life or death must be immediately obeyed in
order to preserve one's life. Therefore, anything
that would weaken that fear must be rejected.
Even when the words get through, even when
they are remembered, they do not of themselves
affect either beliefs or actions. We have different
memory mechanisms for declarative memories
and for procedural memories. We can change the
verbal knowledge about proper behavior in traffic
without changing the memory of the previously-
learned procedures about how to behave in traffic.
And neither of these changes necessarily will
change emotions, which are determined by a dif-
ferent mechanism entirely and which ultimately
will control the use that we make of our knowledge
of facts and of procedures.
The greatest task of the Effective Cycling
Instructor is to replace the cyclist-inferiority com-
plex in the minds of the students with the vehicu-
lar-cycling principle at all three levels, verbal,
procedural, and emotional. This change must be
produced despite the strong resistance that is the
natural strength of any complex of fears. Only
when this change is complete can a cyclist be
effective. During this process but before it
becomes complete, the cyclist is hampered by the
conflict between the vehicular-cycling principle
and his belief in the cyclist-inferiority superstition.
Because the superstition has been inculcated by
fear and is based on emotion, so long as the emo-
tion continues the superstition will ultimately con-

trol the cyclist's behavior, no matter what he says.
Fortunately, the facts of the situation assist the
instructor. Truth is on the instructor's side, and will
assist the conversion process even after the
course has ended.
We have discovered only one way to cure the
cyclist-inferiority complex: repeated satisfactory
experience of cycling in traffic. This discovery is
not unique to cycling, for after it was made we
found that this type of treatment (that is, repeated
exposure to the feared object under safe condi-
tions with a satisfactory result) is the treatment of
choice for the other common phobias. The differ-
ence is this: when someone suffers from fear of
crowds (agoraphobia) his condition is recognized,
by others and even by the victim, as an unusual
disturbance that requires treatment, and treatment
is conducted on that basis. With the cyclist-inferi-
ority complex, the victim doesn't recognize that he
suffers from a psychological condition and insists
that his superstition is the correct description of
the world. If he were told that he suffered from an
abnormal psychological condition he would say
that what he believes must be true because every-
body else believes the same things, that is, every-
body except a few screwball cyclists. In America
this is hard to refute because cyclist-inferiority is
the prevalent and official opinion; in England it
would not be because only a few people have the
cyclist-inferiority opinion. Therefore, the Effective
Cycling instructor must administer treatment to his
students without letting them recognize what he is
doing. He must know it in order to do it correctly,
but they must not or they will quit.
Repeated satisfactory experience in traffic
makes the transformation. However, the instructor
cannot just take the class out into traffic in order to
give students the experience. For one thing, the
class wouldn't go. The instructor must never tell
the class that next week we will have intensive
practice in traffic cycling, for that is the session
that everybody will miss. For another thing, taking
an unprepared class out into traffic is likely to
cause a traffic accident, because the students
don't have the skills of cycling in traffic or have
learned them with cars but won't use them for
bicycles. So the instructor must first develop traffic
cycling skills on both a conceptual verbal basis
and a practical skills basis.
The Effective Cycling curriculum allows suffi-
cient time for most adult students to make the
intellectual and emotional changes that are neces-
sary. This is not the place to discuss the details of
how to teach each concept and skill, but the grad-
84
ual, week-by-week increases in the difficulty of the
maneuvers and the intensity of traffic provide the
repeated satisfactory experience of traffic that is
necessary for starting the emotional change.
Don't hurry the course, because experience
shows that students who are hurried remain fear-
ful of traffic. (A really intensive experience, such
as military recruits are deliberately subjected to,
would probably make the changes in a short time,
but that is not practical in normal life.)
You, the instructor, must take care to present
traffic cycling as the most ordinary thing in the
world. There is no need to talk of the dangers of
traffic and the need to be careful; your adult stu-
dents already have more fear than they can use,
so much fear that it adversely affects their learn-
ing. Exude confidence; effective cycling technique
is the best and proper way to ride, the instructional
program works, the students learn, accidents are
extremely rare, practically nobody fails the course.
Naturally, you do have to discuss accident
types and statistics. Knowledge of these is not
necessary to learn the bicycle driving skills, and
they are not included in the courses in schools.
They have been put into the adult course for two
reasons. Adults have entirely inaccurate ideas
about which accidents are frequent and which are
rare. First, presenting the truth about accidents to
cyclists shows them that the Effective Cycling
techniques are a reasonable approach to achiev-
ing a low accident rate, rather than a gamble
made to increase one's speed. Second, the dis-
cussion of collisions shows that collisions are
caused when one or both parties disobey the traf-
fic system. You should present the accident infor-
mation in ways that emphasize that a traffic
system exists and that cyclists benefit from obey-
ing it. This is designed to counter the beliefs cre-
ated by the bike-safety system that there is no
traffic system or that if there is one it does not
benefit cyclists. Say that the cyclist who under-
stands and obeys the system, including the tech-
niques of Effective Cycling because they conform
to the system, will not cause his own collisions
and has a better chance of detecting and avoiding
the mistakes of other drivers.
When discussing the necessary safety pre-
cautions, such as looking for and yielding to traffic
that has the right-of-way, discuss these in the con-
text of the traffic system. Cars travelling along an
arterial are not dangerous per se, but because
their drivers know that they have the right-of-way
they are not prepared to stop for drivers from side
streets. Therefore the cyclist who wants to cross

the arterial must look for and yield to them. Con-
trariwise, the cyclist who uses the arterial also has
the right-of-way, so that crossing motorists must
yield to him. The stop signs are not installed to
protect the crossing traffic from the traffic on the
arterial, but to protect the arterial traffic so that it
can move continuously at reasonable speed. The
cyclist benefits from this just as much as the
motorists, because stopping for stop signs tires
him out as well as slows him down. Also discuss
how the safety precautions work, so that the stu-
dents will understand that they are designed to be
effective, not just to comply with some law that has
little rational basis.
When on the road, be calm. The curriculum
enables you to have great confidence in the abili-
ties of the students before taking them to more dif-
ficult conditions. Almost certainly, they will do well.
Even if unexpectedly difficult conditions occur,
such as when a motorist runs a stop sign in front
of the cyclists, do not emphasize the danger. Don't
say, "Boy, that was a dangerous motorist and you
just got out of the way in time." If some student
handled the difficulty well, compliment him by say-
ing that he recognized the mistake and took the
appropriate action. Depending on the time in the
course that this occurs, you may add that you will
instruct them in how to detect such mistakes and
what to do to avoid a collision. Build up their
senses of accomplishment and of competence,
and of operating within a logical system that bene-
fits its users and responds to skillful usage. By the
sixth session (more than 15 hours into the course)
I think that the students are ready for a session of
maneuvering in really heavy traffic. I use a major
arterial that carries 40,000 cars a day at 40 to 45
mph, and we do every left turn off it for several
miles. As I've written above, I have learned never
to tell them in advance that this is the schedule for
this week, because if I do few students show up. I
close the session by finding a grassy spot for a
short talk. I start out by telling them that I am sorry
that they have had such a dull morning, but that
now we have finished most of the dull work and
can concentrate more on cycling for enjoyment.
For them it's not been dull, for their eyes are shin-
ing with the excitement of discovering that they
can work with other traffic and go places that they
never before thought possible.
That kind of emotional effect is required to
change the emotions about cycling in traffic that
had been created by bike-safety training.
The later parts of the course also help in
making the change. While these are not intensive
85
training in traffic cycling, they all involve cycling in
traffic under enjoyable circumstances. The stu-
dents' skills and confidence improve, as does their
understanding of the traffic system. Even if the
change is not complete by the end of the course,
you have given them the basis for further change.
They have the confidence and skill to continue
cycling for whatever purposes they choose, and
the more they cycle the more they will come to
appreciate the value of using the traffic system as
it was meant to be used by drivers. The facts of
the traffic situation demonstrate that vehicular-
style cycling works in clearly obvious ways. Peo-
ple who once learn vehicular-style cycling don't
regress to cyclist-inferiority cycling.
13.2 CONFUSION ABOUT SIGNAL-
LING
The confusion about signalling is a typical
product of bike-safety training. That training
instructs cyclists to extend their left arms before
turning left, on pain of death if they don't, but it
never discusses changing lanes or moving to the
center of the road. This creates two irrational
superstitions. First, that the act of extending your
arm provides protection against a probably fatal
collision; second, that the signal protects the turn
to the left rather than the move to the center of the
road. So you see people who swerve across the
lanes without looking, reach the center of the road
and then extend their arms while waiting to make
the turn. Others signal before changing lanes, but
don't look behind. It is fairly easy to convince
these people to look behind and yield to traffic
before changing lanes, because these are such
reasonable acts and work so well.
However, learning to look behind and yield
does not end the objections of those who insist
that Effective Cycling is wrong because it dispar-
ages signalling. You, the instructor, are likely to be
berated for not insisting that every student signal
every lane change and every turn. Even though
you know that signalling does not prevent colli-
sions, you could consider it a harmless aberration
and require all students to signal at each opportu-
nity. I disagree with that view. The insistence on
signalling in the American context has done a
great deal of harm. Those who insist on the safety
necessity for signalling have still not overcome
their confusion caused by the cyclist-inferiority
superstition and bike-safety training. Getting peo-
ple over their confusion about signalling helps
them learn and understand the vehicular-cycling

principle.
You, the instructor, must ensure that there is
no doubt in any student's mind that extending the
arm does not make it safe to change lanes. The
argument is that the law allows the overtaking
driver to continue to overtake and requires the
driver who wishes to change lanes to wait until the
new lane is clear. That situation exists whether or
not a signal is given. Therefore, giving the signal
does not prevent a collision, and to the extent that
giving signals detracts from looking behind it
causes collisions.
Since this position cannot be disputed, the
objectors return with a different bike-safety super-
stition: signalling makes you predictable, it's telling
motorists what you are going to do. This is so far
from the truth that it's malarkey. Extending your
left arm does not tell motorists what you are going
to do. In the lane-changing situation that is most
delicate, it says only that sometime, someplace,
you want to change lanes. It does not say when
you will do it or where you will do it. So the motor-
ists don't do anything as a result of the cyclist's
extended arm. The truth of the matter is some-
what different. Motorists are continually worried
that cyclists will swerve in front of them, as well
they should since the motoring establishment has
tried so hard for so long to teach cyclists to swerve
without first looking behind. The motorists could
think of only one way to reduce their worry.
That is, to establish a system in which they
didn't have to worry about the cyclists who didn't
signal, but only about those who did signal. There-
fore they developed the superstition that cyclists'
must signal to save their lives, and emphasized it
strongly because, of course, unless they con-
vinced practically all cyclists they could not be
confident that a cyclist who didn't signal did not
intend to swerve in front of them.
One other argument is possible, but I have
never heard it given. If a cyclist gives a signal and
then swerves in front of a car, it is just possible, if
the circumstances are just right, that the alerted
motorist might be able to avoid hitting the cyclist
when an unalerted motorist would not be able to
do so. While this is undoubtedly the only correct
argument, it is also obvious that it is an extremely
weak one and contrary to motorists' interests. The
signal might enable the motorist to avoid perhaps
as many as 10% of the cyclists whom he other-
wise would have hit as they swerved in front of
him, but at the expense of disrupting the motor
traffic with swerving and stopping motorists when-
ever a cyclist extended his arm. Since extending
86
an arm does not cause this mass confusion
among motorists, it is obvious that the motoring
public has no intention of keeping its side of that
bargain.
Since the arguments to support the belief
that signalling is a life-preserving action are so
utterly absurd, the belief is merely one more perni-
cious effect of the cyclist-inferiority complex. Since
one important task of an instructor is to extirpate
the cyclist-inferiority complex, it is better to con-
front and destroy those arguments rather than to
permit the public expression of that belief by any
student. Furthermore, extirpation is necessary to
substantiate the principle that Effective Cycling
technique is the correct way to ride. If some stu-
dents compel you, the instructor, to conform to the
belief that signalling is necessary for safety, then
obviously you have admitted that looking behind
and yielding is insufficient for safety. Don't let them
get away with that.
However, do not let the opposition to signals
as safety measures obscure the use of signals as
courtesy measures. By the use of signals the
cyclist can enable other drivers to move more
smoothly or get moving earlier. The cyclist who is
traveling on an arterial and intends to turn right at
the next intersection, upon seeing another driver
waiting at the stop sign where he will turn, is cour-
teous to make a right turn signal so that the other
driver doesn't have to wait for him.
Signals are also vital when cycling with oth-
ers in a closely-spaced group in which the cyclists
are more like many passengers in one bus than
separate drivers. If the group is to turn at the next
intersection, particularly if making a right turn for
which no preliminary move to the center of the
road is necessary, it is vital for the leaders to sig-
nal so that the others will be prepared to make the
turn immediately after the leaders do.
13.3 THE STOP-SIGN PROBLEM
In both lecture and ride you will be facing the
stop-sign problem. Effective Cycling instruction
about stop signs arouses lots of controversy that
you must be ready to face. The controversy comes
from the superstition that stopping at stop signs
saves your life by some magical means, so that
failing to stop in the full legal sense endangers
your life. The believers in this foolish superstition
forget four things: stopping and then starting with-
out yielding is just as dangerous as failing to stop
in the first place, you ride into danger only through
failing to yield the right-of-way to cross traffic,
 87

yielding to traffic has nothing to do with stopping that stopping per se is a life-preserving action
behind the stop line, and yielding saves your life admits that looking and yielding is insufficient for
even where there are no stop signs, such as at safety.
driveway exits.
The problem has two causes. The first is a 13.4 REAR-VIEW MIRRORS
defect in the highway system: stop signs are used
The rear-view mirror presents two problems
where yield signs would be the correct treatment.
for instructors. The first is that it is not safe to use;
Stop signs are the correct treatment for blind alley
the second is that those cyclists who use one are
exits or other places where the driver cannot see
likely to cling to it and refuse to turn their heads
far enough along the major road to yield, and so
properly.
must give the traffic on the major road time to
If rear-view mirrors were safe and effective
avoid him as he creeps out without being able to
we would all use them and there would be no
see as he should. When the problem is merely
problem, but in my judgement and according to
one of informing drivers which ones should yield,
my tests they are ineffective for ensuring that the
the YIELD sign is appropriate and equally effec-
adjacent space is clear when changing lanes,
tive, as is shown by its use in England for all of
which is the one time that the cyclist really needs
these situations.
to see behind.
Although this problem really exists, it rarely-
There are two kinds of rear-view mirrors: one
bothers motorists. They treat stop signs as yield
kind is mounted on the bike and the other on the
signs because they recognize the situation. The
cyclist's head. The handlebar type may be dis-
second cause of the stop-sign problem is bike-
missed immediately. The cyclist changes position
safety training and the cyclist-inferiority complex.
so much while riding that he cannot keep the mir-
The reason is the same as that through
ror pointed at the correct location on the roadway,
which signalling for turns has been ascribed such
the handlebar vibration jiggles the image so much
magical powers. The authors of 'bike-safety' pro-
that the image is blurred and identification is
grams believed that cyclists could not judge the
uncertain, and the necessary steering movements
speed and distance of approaching traffic. There-
constantly cause the point of aim to wander about.
fore, cyclists could not yield. Given this deficiency,
These defects peculiar to the handlebar-mounted
nothing else could be done except to insist on
type make it clearly inferior to the head-mounted
stopping as a life-preserving measure, even
type.
though it is not and it does not give you the right-
The mirror that is mounted on the eyeglass
of-way to cross the major road. Since this utterly
or helmet can avoid these problems, but it has its
illogical position has been taught as a life-preserv-
own. When properly mounted for use in the
ing measure, those people who believe it are
dropped handlebar posture, it has a field of view of
immune to logical discussion of the subject, and
about one lane width at a distance of 100 feet.
will remain so until they have sufficient experience
This limited field of view requires the cyclist
to explode their superstition. Be prepared to
to rotate his head to see all the places where an
explain the rationale of the EC instruction, that it is
overtaking car might be, and that rotation has to
scientifically accurate for all yielding situations
point the cyclist's face away from those cars. So
(rather than merely those with stop signs) and
far as can be judged by any other driver, the
does not advocate any actions that are not gener-
cyclist is looking to the right to move to the right
ally accepted for motorists.
when he actually wants to move to the left. The
The important action is yielding to that cross
limited field of view also prevents the cyclist from
traffic that has priority. That's what's necessary,
seeing the whole rear area at one time, and leads
and it must be done wherever the cross traffic has
to errors about the position and speed of the
priority, whether or not there is a stop sign. It is
objects that he sees.
necessary to extirpate the opinion that stopping is
Neither the handlebar-mounted mirrors nor
a life-preserving action for exactly the same rea-
the helmet-mounted mirrors can be used for look-
sons as in the signalling problem. If you don't extir-
ing to the right rear.
pate the opinion, you haven't destroyed the cyclist-
While we do not look on signalling with the
inferiority complex, and students will believe that
arm as really necessary when preparing to
you are teaching and instructing an unlawful and
change lanes, we recognize that the cyclist does
dangerous system. You have to show that looking
make two other kinds of signals, one by his posi-
and yielding is sufficient for safety, and to admit

tion in the lane and one by whether he turns his
head to look behind. Turning the head to look
behind is the signal that most motorists best rec-
ognize for the intention to change lanes. The
cyclist who uses a handlebar-mounted mirror
does not turn his head in any obvious way, while
the cyclist who uses a helmet-mounted mirror
turns his head in the opposite direction. The use
of mirrors, particularly the helmet-mounted type,
destroys the head-turning signal and therefore
reduces, to some extent, motorists' knowledge of
the cyclist's intent.
The cyclist who turns his head to look has
everything within his field of view at one time, so
he can judge location, distance and speed much
more accurately and in less time. He can turn his
head to the left to look left behind and to the right
to look right behind with equal facility and accu-
racy.
Its limitations make the rear-view mirror obvi-
ously unsuitable for changing lanes or otherwise
moving sideways on the roadway. To be safe, the
cyclist must turn his head to look.
Furthermore, turning the head has an
instructional purpose. When the student turns his
head the instructor knows that he has been able
to see the traffic and knows whether this was at
the appropriate time. Therefore, you, the instruc-
tor, must insist that students do not wear mirrors in
class and insist that all students learn to turn their
heads properly. This is a responsibility that you
must carry out properly, and it may be necessary
to argue the point.
Those who wish to use a rear-view mirror
may argue that the mirror is a safety measure. As
discussed above, the rear-view mirror is unsafe for
making lane changes. The other safety argument
for the rear-view mirror is the cyclist-inferiority
argument that the cyclist can see the traffic com-
ing up from the rear and can avoid it. Refuting that
argument is easy. Since the cyclist must spend
most of his time looking ahead, he is unlikely to be
looking behind at the precise moment when he
would see that the car behind will hit him. That
can't be determined until a second before the
crash, and in that second the cyclist can't get out
of the way. The only thing that the cyclist could do
with the information that the mirror can supply is to
get off the road whenever any car appears behind,
and that's stupid.
As with signalling, however, mirrors may sup-
ply convenience rather than safety. If you tend to
ride faster than others in the group, a mirror
enables you to see that you are not too far ahead.
88
If you intend to turn left from a multi-lane street
and see a large platoon of cars coming from
behind, you know that you should wait for it to
pass before considering a look behind, and this
information might suggest that you slow down so
the platoon will be past you while you still have
sufficient distance for the lane change. These are
quite justified uses of rear-view mirrors for those
who think that carrying the mirror is worth these
conveniences. Don't argue against these uses.
Only argue on the danger of relying on mirrors for
safety, and in class for the necessity of all students
to learn the safe practice of turning the head and
the instructor's need to be able to verify that the
students do look behind.
13.5 NIGHTTIME PROTECTIVE
EQUIPMENT
You probably will not teach a class in the
dark, but you will have to give good instruction
about riding in the dark. Recent events have cre-
ated more foolish superstitions that now make it
even harder than before to teach cyclists the truth
about the function and value of various items of
nighttime protective equipment. Some cyclists
don't want to use the proper equipment while oth-
ers insist that safety demands the use of addi-
tional equipment that has little or no value. Those
persons who want to avoid using proper equip-
ment are generally motivated by laziness and can
be persuaded by a discussion of the functional
needs that must be met. Those persons who insist
on valueless equipment are motivated by fears
and are therefore difficult to deal with. The whole
problem is made more difficult by the deplorable
state of the laws and of official opinion, which now
reflect the use of everything conceivable in a des-
perate attempt to do something, without an analy-
sis of the functional needs that must be met and
the ability of the available items of equipment to
meet those needs.
It is your task as instructor to persuade your
students of three things:
1: To use the proper nighttime protective equip-
ment, which is a headlamp and a bright rear
reflector, with an optionally additional rear
lamp.
2: To understand why that is the proper equipment
to use.
3: To oppose all laws, regulations and pronounce-
ments that require any other equipment.
To do this in the current chaotic situation with

many false statements and beliefs in circulation
requires a good grasp of the true facts. Perhaps
the best way to learn these is in historical
sequence.
The nighttime protective equipment that was
required from early times was a headlamp and a
rear reflector that had to be mounted and in use
whenever the bicycle was used during darkness.
This equipment was required by the traffic laws of
the various states. It is pretty obvious that these
requirements were based on an accurate analysis
of the facts as then known and the equipment then
available. Neither the lamp nor the reflector had
very high performance, but within the limits of their
performance these items met all the functional
needs for nighttime protection.
In the late 1960s the bicycle manufacturers
adopted a standard that contradicted these
requirements of state law by requiring 10 perma-
nently-mounted reflectors without a headlamp.
They adopted this standard because they were
afraid that otherwise they would have to equip
their products with lamps. The bicycle manufactur-
ers then attempted to get the states to adopt this
standard. The states did not do so because it was
obvious to their traffic experts that riding at night
without a headlamp was extremely dangerous
and, if allowed by law, would make motorists liable
for hitting cyclists whom they could not see in time
to avoid a collision. However, without any scientific
analysis, at various times various states added
requirements for some of the reflectors specified
in the bicycle manufacturers' standard without
abandoning any other item. The result was a
crazy quilt of inconsistent requirements that had
no scientific justification.
The bicycle manufacturers advocated their
system on three points. Naturally, none of these
points was the damning absence of a headlamp.
The first point was that the reflectors were posi-
tioned so that at least one could be seen from any
angle. The idea was that no matter how a potential
car-bike collision situation might occur, the driver
would see reflectors lighted-up by his head-lamps
and therefore would not hit the cyclist. This
became known as wide-angle reflectivity, from the
reflector design that this required. The second
point was that the motion of the reflectors that
were attached to wheels and pedals would attract
the attention of motorists, so that they would see
the bicycle earlier than they otherwise would. The
third point was that the shape and motion of the
reflectors showed that the object carrying them
was a bicycle. That propaganda was widely
89
accepted. The public superstitiously came to
believe that these three points, wide-angle or all-
around reflectorization, motion for early detection,
and recognition of bicycles as bicycles, were
extremely important in the prevention of nighttime
car-bike collisions.
There is no scientific justification for any of
these superstitions and good reasons for not
believing the arguments that were presented. All-
around reflectorization is unimportant for two rea-
sons. The only car-bike collision type in which the
motorist's headlamps shine on the bicycle early
enough for the collision to be avoided is the motor-
ist-overtaking-cyclist type, so that the rear reflec-
tor is the only one that had a useful function.
Since the cyclist needs a headlamp to alert drivers
and pedestrians of his approach and to see the
roadway, the headlamp performs all the functions
that the front and side reflectors might otherwise
perform, and does them better. Moving or flashing
lights do attract eyes that are directed elsewhere
and are useful in searches for accident victims at
sea or in wilderness, but they cannot attract eyes
that are already focussed in the area. It is well
known that motorists at night spend most of their
time looking along their headlamp beams, so their
eyes are already directed to observe any light or
reflector in that direction. Also, quite obviously,
reflectors cannot be seen unless they are in the
headlamp beams of the driver's own vehicle, so if
they are outside the beams (as on a sharply wind-
ing road) they cannot be seen even if one looks in
the correct place. The idea that recognizing a
bicycle as a bicycle makes a driver less likely to hit
it has no basis whatever. Motorists don't want to
hit anything that has lights or reflectors, if for no
other reason than the possible damage to their
vehicle and injury to themselves.
Throughout this period and continuing to the
present the manufacturers of reflective materials
published much propaganda about the accident-
preventing virtues of their products. Naturally,
since the bicycle manufacturers' all reflector sys-
tem used a large number of reflectors, this system
was particularly publicized. There is no doubt that
in some situations reflectors do reduce accidents,
for example when used to mark the edges of wind-
ing roads and when used as rear reflectors on
bicycles, but in the popular mind it produced the
shallow belief that reflective materials greatly help
in preventing all types of nighttime car-bike colli-
sions, a belief that is false.
Then in the first half of the 1970s the federal
government's Consumer Product Safety Commis-

sion adopted the bicycle manufacturers' all-reflec-
tor system but with slightly brighter reflectors.
This confused the law and the public further,
because the CPSC requirements are law that
supersedes the state laws. Furthermore, the
CPSC law prohibited the selling for bicycle use of
the still brighter reflectors that are available, so
that those who wished to use them had to buy
them at auto-parts stores and make special brack-
ets to mount them on bicycles. The result of this
was that bicycles had to be sold with the equip-
ment that the CPSC required but used with the
equipment that the states required, and the best
rear reflectors were nominally unavailable for bicy-
cle use.
Although the CPSC reflectors were brighter
than those that had been used before, the rear
reflector, the only one that has a real function in
preventing accidents, still had only 10% to 12% of
the brightness of others that were then available
for motor vehicles or for highway markers.
At about this time a supposedly scientific
investigation was made as part of a personal
injury lawsuit, an investigation that was intended
to show that rear reflectors were unsafe. The
investigator, Zwahlen, showed that the dim rear
reflectors of previous times were hard to see at a
long distance when the headlamps beams were
not directly on them and the motorist was looking
elsewhere. This does not show that even these
dim rear reflectors are unsafe; it only shows that
bad drivers with misaligned headlamps are dan-
gerous. To settle this confusion and provide guid-
ance for both legislators and cyclists, the then
League of American Wheelmen, under my presi-
dency in 1980, adopted its first policy on nighttime
protective equipment. This specified a front head-
lamp and the use of a rear reflector chosen from
the brighter types then available for motor vehicle
and highway use. At the insistence of directors
who believed, quoting the Zwahlen report, that
rear reflectors were unsafe, this policy approved
the use of an additional, optional rear lamp.
At about this time it became recognized that a
very high proportion of the fatal accidents to
cyclists occur at night. This recognition stimulated
both the emotionally desperate advocacy of all
possible items of nighttime equipment and some
research into the problem. The voices of advo-
cates of brighter headlamps, rear lamps, still
brighter rear lamps, reflective materials, the CPSC
all-reflector system and even of white clothing
rose into an emotional clamor without any scien-
tific sense. None of these people asked how the
90
nighttime accidents were occurring and therefore
what might be the best way of preventing them. All
the superstitions about reflective materials were
especially amplified.
The recognition that a large proportion of
deaths to cyclists were caused by nighttime car-
bike collisions in which the motorist was overtak-
ing the cyclist stimulated another investigation,
this one for the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration. Its investigator placed dummy
cyclists with various items of equipment alongside
roads (actually, an unused airport runway), and
measured the distances at which drivers
approaching from behind saw the various items of
equipment. However, the investigator chose the
wrong kinds of equipment. For rear reflectors he
chose the deliberately dim CPSC reflector instead
of the eight to ten times brighter reflectors that had
been recommended for the previous ten years. So
all he proved was that he didn't know very much
about nighttime protective equipment and that the
badly-designed CPSC reflector was not very
good, although it gave adequate sighting distance
in this test.
A third investigation was done for the British
Transportation and Road Research Laboratory
and was designed to justify the British standards
for rear lamps. It was based on the following hypo-
thetical situation that represents the worst possi-
ble case. The road is so narrow that a motorist
cannot overtake a cyclist but must stop when he
sees the cyclist. The cyclist is preparing to turn left
(actually, right in Britain because they drive on the
other side) from the center of the road and is wait-
ing for a stream of cars from the opposite direc-
tion. The test motorist must see the cyclist despite
the glare of the raised headlamps that are two feet
to the cyclist's left, and see him at sufficient dis-
tance to come to a stop from a high speed. This
may have relevance to British conditions, for many
of their main roads are very narrow, but it has no
relevance to the conditions of American nighttime
car-bike collisions, even the fatal ones that people
are most concerned about. In this test, also, even
the smaller British reflectors (similar to our older
ones) provided adequate sighting distance to
steer around the cyclist, and the larger and
brighter ones performed considerably better.
American nighttime fatal car-bike collisions
typically occur on roads with little traffic, under
conditions where the motorist has plenty of room
to overtake, and are not caused by seeing the
cyclist too late but by never seeing him at all, fre-
quently caused by the motorist driving under the

influence of alcohol. Most American nighttime car-
bike collisions are not fatal and do not involve
overtaking. They occur from ahead or from the
side and therefore do not involve the question of
conspicuity from the rear but instead the question
of whether the cyclist had a working headlamp.
Unfortunately, there has been no investigation into
the types of nighttime equipment used by the
cyclists involved in nighttime collisions, nor into
the proportions of the various types of equipment
that are in use in nighttime riding. Therefore we
can say nothing about the relative accident rates
of the various types of nighttime protective equip-
ment. All of our recommendations must be made
from analysis of the performance characteristics
of the various types of equipment compared to the
characteristics that are needed in various types of
potential collision situations.
All this emotional commotion has caused
both the public and officials to read into the scien-
tific reports their personal recipes for reducing
nighttime car-bike collisions, most of which are
culled from the superstitions that were described
above. As a result, many people who should know
better are disseminating a new false superstition
that the scientific investigations justify their own
superstitiously-created recipes for proper night-
time equipment, even though the investigations
covered only the points I discussed above and
demonstrated nothing of importance. In 1985,
after the League of American Wheelmen became
Bicycle USA, its president, Bill Feldman, the bicy-
cle coordinator for the state of New Jersey,
rewrote its nighttime policy for adoption by its
board of directors. Feldman writes that he didn't
change anything, but if he did it was based on the
NHTSA and the TRRL reports discussed above.
In fact, he did make changes and none of the
changes are based on either of these reports.
Quite clearly, Feldman simply believed the con-
ventional introductory platitudes of the reports'
authors, instead of reading the reports to find out
what tests were performed and what visibility dis-
tances were measured, and then reasoning out
the consequences, if any. The new policy reflects
the "use everything" superstition by requiring all
the reflectors, front and rear lamps, flashing bea-
cons, and white and reflective clothing, and rec-
ommending that the states pass laws to require
both front and rear lamps.
Certain accident facts must be recognized.
Traffic law is so structured that collisions can
occur only if one driver violates the right-of-way of
another. If the cyclist violates the motorist's right-
91
of-way, such as by running a stop sign, a collision
is likely even in broad daylight. In this type of
nighttime collision the quality of the cyclist's night-
time equipment cannot be considered the cause
of the collision. If the motorist violates the cyclist's
right-of-way at night, however, as when the motor-
ist restarts from a stop sign just as the cyclist
comes along, then the quality of the cyclist's night-
time equipment may be the cause of the collision.
If that equipment did not allow the motorist to
see the cyclist at the time that the decision had to
be made, then it was defective. The normal good-
quality bicycle headlamp allows the motorist to
see the cyclist in all the situations in which the
motorist must yield the right-of-way to the
approaching cyclist. No reflector system can do
this because in many of these situations the
motorist's headlamp beams do not strike the
reflectors until too late to avoid the collision. The
only other way in which the motorist can violate
the cyclist's right-of-way is when the motorist is
overtaking the cyclist. In this situation the motor-
ist's headlamp beams strike the cyclist's rear
reflector early enough for the motorist to react and
steer around the cyclist. When curves are sharp,
the headlamp beams strike the reflector later but
the curves force the motorist to travel slow enough
that he still has time to steer around the cyclist.
The geometry of curves and headlamp beams
limits the angles at which the reflector must oper-
ate to those of the conventional Society of Auto-
motive Engineers reflector. Since wide-angle
reflectors achieve their wide-angle performance at
the cost of a 2/3 dimming in brightness, they are
not advisable and the rear reflector should be an
SAE type. While rear lamps do not rely upon the
motorist's headlamp beams to be seen, they are
liable to go out without the cyclist's notice, and,
with generator types, when the cyclist stops. The
logical result is that if a rear lamp is used a reflec-
tor must also be mounted for the times when the
rear lamp goes out. Since nobody has shown that
a bright rear reflector of the recommended type
cannot be seen at the necessary distance under
realistic conditions of use, when the tests that
have been made show that under all the tested
conditions it can be so seen, there is no reason to
require the lamp and reflector combination and to
disallow the reflector alone.
Since the headlamp and the bright rear
reflector fulfill all the functional needs, anything
else is pure window dressing. Rechargeable bat-
teries powering LED lights now make bright rear
lamps really practical and capable of overcoming

the disadvantages of reflectors. Recommend
such. One may say that using more equipment
than scientific knowledge justifies is a matter of
personal taste and doesn't matter to anybody
else. Unfortunately, this is not so. The use of addi-
tional equipment shows that the person believes
that the headlamp and rear reflector are ineffec-
tive and that the other equipment is better. People
who believed these emotional superstitions are
those who confused the public and persuaded
legislators and regulators to adopt their present
bad laws and these people are continuing to do
so. The laws now require cyclists to buy and use
bad and excessive equipment as well as good,
and failure to use the bad or excessive equipment
allows police to charge the cyclist with violating
the law and creates, in accident cases, the pre-
sumption that the cyclist was negligent. This emo-
tional foolishness must be stopped, and the only
way to stop it is to create a body of responsible
opinion. That is one more reason why your duties,
as an Effective Cycling Instructor, go beyond
merely teaching cycling to include developing
well-informed cyclists who will help bring reason
to cycling's political affairs.
13.6 PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED
STUDENTS
If the instructor is presented with a physi-
cally-handicapped prospective student he will
have to decide whether that student should be
accepted and whether the handicap will require
special behavior by the student.
Handicaps may be divided into those that are
obvious but will not get worse, such as the loss of
a hand, and those that are not obvious and may
be aggravated by cycling, such as certain heart
problems or chemical conditions such as diabe-
tes. The instructor may make the decision himself
for handicaps that will not get worse, and that
decision should be based on whether the student
can learn to ride with reasonable safety and facil-
ity despite the handicap. If the handicap might get
worse, the prospective student should consult his
physician or a specialist in athletic medicine to
learn whether cycling is not advised, or how to
manage his handicap, what conditions may aggra-
vate it, and what the danger signals are. In special
cases the instructor might inform the physician of
the conditions to which the student will be
exposed, so the physician can better advise the
prospective student.
For handicaps that probably will not get
92
worse, the instructor himself has the best ability to
decide whether the prospective student should be
accepted. The question he must answer is:
"Which of the cycling maneuvers or abilities will
the handicap affect, and will the effect be so great
that the cyclist either cannot do it or will not be
able to do it safely?"
For example, I have had one student with
one hand missing, amputated at the wrist. What
do hands do for a cyclist? Basically, hands are
used for four purposes: to support the cyclist's
upper body, to steer the handlebars, to apply
brakes and to pull on hills. This student had care-
fully padded the handlebar so that his wrist stump
could take his weight, at least for the duration of
the class rides. Steering can be done with one
hand. This student used a tandem-type brake
lever in which both brakes are actuated by one
lever. This prevented him from achieving the maxi-
mum deceleration, so that he had to be more
careful in both riding and in adjusting the brakes,
but with this extra care he could safely do every-
thing but the maximum braking maneuver. On hills
he used low gears and had developed a high
cadence, so that he could still make the rides with-
out pulling up and no slower than the other slow
riders. This student managed the class perfectly
well and was well up with the other sporting riders
during the rides.
Another student was a cripple. He could
barely walk, dragging one foot sideways in a
crouched-over position. But he was comparatively
better on his bike than walking - he had a real
incentive to ride. His problems were bicycle size
and mounting. He solved those by using a
woman's frame so that he could crawl across the
bottom bracket instead of swinging his leg over.
He was not the most powerful rider by any
means, but he was not the slowest in the class.
Operationally, he was slow to get started, so we
tried to get him at the front when we stopped for
red lights.
One-legged cyclists are well known, and so
are those with one stiff leg. Both use only one
crank, but the stiff-legged cyclists use a foot rest
for the stiff leg. They are weak on acceleration and
on hills, but often have good endurance.
One-armed cyclists are as badly off as one-
legged ones, possibly worse. Since they cannot
transfer their upper body weight equally to both
handlebars they have problems with steering and
back strain. The typical adaptation is to put the
one good hand upon the handlebars next to the
stem and to steer by twisting the wrist. This

requires also that they use a tourist-type, double-
cable tandem brake lever positioned at the center
of the bars and operating both brakes. The divi-
sion of force between the front and rear brakes is
adjusted through the fine adjustments of the brake
levers. These cyclists are unable to achieve the
maximum deceleration and must therefore ride a
bit more carefully. In their normal cycling position
with the hand near the center of the bars they
have little resistance to forces that would turn the
front wheel, such as those from tracks and slots.
Upon approaching these obstacles they should
shift their hand to the normal position so they can
exert greater control torque on the front wheel.
They might also adopt a somewhat more upright
position to reduce the weight on the arm.
I have had several students who suspected,
or complained of, joint or back problems. Nowa-
days I have a small back problem myself, and
since my university days I have had a weak carti-
lage in one knee. As is normally true of cyclists,
most of these improved while cycling and none
happened to get worse. I have myself worked out
the soreness of a sprained ankle (a skiing injury)
by cycling. I rode in low gears on the level, starting
the afternoon of the day I took the fall, barely
using my injured leg but rotating the pedals
entirely with my good leg. I rode to work the day
after, and the worst part was climbing the stairs to
my office with only one good leg. Each day I
increased the force on the injured leg until the first
tiny bit of pain, then eased off to ride without pain.
As I rode the swelling and the irritation decreased,
and I healed with good speed and without any
secondary stiffness. Although cycling demands
the full freedom of motion of the leg joints it
doesn't subject them to heavy loads or shocks, so
as a result cycling is more likely to improve a joint
than to injure it.
In cases where the handicap might be aggra-
vated by cycling the student should have the
advice of a physician. Since most physicians are
unfamiliar with cycling, the instructor's explanation
of the conditions to which the cyclist will be
exposed can enable the physician to give better
advice. Selecting a physician with cycling experi-
ence or a specialist in sports medicine is a great
help. In my estimation, physicians tend to overesti-
mate the severity of cycling but to underestimate
the long-term chemical demands. They tend to
expect that cycling exposes the cyclist to sudden
strains or demands on the muscles, joints, heart
or circulatory system. These only happen when
racing, climbing steep hills, or in a fall. But for the
93
type of cycling that is practiced in this course, or
the kind of cycling that most graduates will soon
progress to, these are minor hazards unless the
cyclist was in terrible initial condition. The cyclist
who finds that he pants and heaves when he rides
around the block is indeed subjecting his body to
severe demands, but for most people the act of
learning to ride is not strenuous although it does
make them tired and weary. The hazards of
cycling at moderate speed are those associated
with glucose consumption, water loss, heat loads
and the pressure points of long-continued sitting
on the saddle, supporting weight with the hands
on the handlebars, and, due to poor pedalling
action, failure to relieve the weight on the feet dur-
ing the upstroke. Even in severe hill climbing the
hazards are more the self-caused muscle injury of
cramped leg muscles than the external hazards of
straining on the pedals. Under most circum-
stances the cyclist quickly gets too tired to develop
sudden extreme demands.
Diabetes is one condition that I would expect
to have an adverse effect on cycling, and which
the glucose consumption of cycling might aggra-
vate into a short-term problem that requires imme-
diate care. I have had only one diabetic student,
and he gave me a written instruction sheet in case
something went wrong. He did not ride hard, but
rather moderately for his age - he was a young
man - and I never had to take any action.
Another student suffered from muscular dys-
trophy, which is a handicap that doesn't get better
and probably will get worse regardless. She had
difficulty in keeping her feet on the pedals
because she couldn't feel them in position as the
pedals rotated, but her cycling improved as soon
as she learned to use toe clips and straps. In this
kind of situation the proper course is to give the
cyclist as much chance to enjoy cycling for as long
as possible. Since we are all afflicted with the fatal
disease of Death, this is no different an instruction
than the one that we aim to give students a life-
long enjoyment of cycling.
There is one very rare condition whose vic-
tims should not cycle at all. The lubrication for the
tendons that run over the front of the knee fails, so
that the tendons are constantly rubbing against
the rest of the joint. Since cycling constantly
requires almost the full motion of the knee joint, it
aggravates this condition. This condition is very
rare, and demands the care of a specialist.
The prospective student should also consult
his physician if he has incurred a recent severe
injury or disease and is still recovering from it.

However, if the injury was of the common
athletic type (sprains, muscle cramps, abrasions,
bruises and the like) the instructor who has either
experience or education in athletic first aid is prob-
ably qualified to decide.
Because the instructor knows cycling condi-
tions he can make a good judgement for many
kinds of handicaps, he can also advise a physi-
cian of those conditions, and he should recognize
those physiological conditions which he is not
trained to handle.
13.7 MENTALLY HANDICAPPED STU-
DENTS
Cycling, even cycling in traffic, is not an activ-
ity that requires great mental powers. Although I
have not trained any, I have heard of mentally
retarded cyclists who cycle quite competently in
traffic. Slim Sanders writes that a mentally-
impaired person is one of the best traffic cyclists
he knows. This is one more indication that cycling
in traffic is a motion-judging activity, not a verbal
one, and that the verbal instruction and testing (if
any) of common bike-safety training requires a dif-
ferent type of thinking than that which is actually
used in cycling. In America this might be even
more true than in Europe or Asia, because the
American is subjected to verbal misinstruction.
The person who is sufficiently retarded to miss the
verbal misinstruction might well be in a better
position to learn traffic cycling himself than is the
educated adult who is handicapped by the super-
stitions that have been inflicted on him.
I know of several institutions for the moder-
ately retarded where cycling is taught because the
students are not allowed to drive motor vehicles
but must have means of transportation. There
seem to be few difficulties when the instruction is
like that for children, by example and repeated
practice rather than by relying on verbal instruc-
tion to convey concepts that the students will later
put into practice.
However, there is one mental handicap that
prevents people from becoming successful
cyclists. This is the inability to coordinate the body
into smooth motions while thinking about some-
thing else, such as traffic. The symptoms of this
condition are similar to those of inexperience. The
cyclist wobbles, shifts gears badly or not at all,
changes speed for unknown reasons, uses the
brakes jerkily, all mistakes that grow worse as the
course progresses and the cyclist is required to
think about other matters. The initial symptoms
94
are typical of the beginning cyclist; with this condi-
tion the sufferer improves little with practice.
In one case the student could not shift gears
because she could not remove one hand from the
handlebars without wobbling several feet to each
side. I attempted to train her by asking her to lift
one hand very slightly from the bar and to regrasp
it at the first severe wobble, expecting that the
duration of one-handed cycling would become
longer and longer. It did not. The student's steer-
ing arm was rigidly pushing on the handlebar as if
fighting itself, creating jerky movements entirely
unsuited to cycling. Of course, the normal cyclist
riding one-handed must use some arm muscle to
counteract the one-sided push on the handlebars,
but he normally reduces this problem by support-
ing his upper body, at least partially, by his back
muscles. This cyclist showed no signs of doing
that. In other cases I noticed only the general jerk-
iness, but made no special examination of cycling
technique. During traffic maneuvers the jerkiness
increased.
Naturally, I would not have allowed any of
these students to ride in pace lines or in moderate
or heavy traffic, but each one realized for himself
that he would not be able to complete the course
and quit before either of these events. One
returned some months later for the next course,
supposedly after individual practice, but was not
better.
These students obviously paid great atten-
tion to their cycling. Riding as badly as they did
required all their attention. Yet they were not sim-
ple-minded people, and every one of them drove
to class in his own car.
It is commonplace to say that one never for-
gets how to ride a bike; it is less common to rec-
ognize that one does not forget how to ride a bike
because the skill cannot be put into words to
remember. Cycling smoothly, particularly steering
smoothly, is an unconscious activity that develops
by itself, and the main initial task of learning to ride
is to develop this unconscious activity and to relin-
quish conscious control to the unconscious skill. I
believe that this is a process of adapting to a dif-
ferent mechanism the basic unconscious ability to
walk upright. (Notice that other primates and
bears have been taught to ride toy bicycles, all
animals that to some extent walk upright.) I
deduce that for one reason or another these stu-
dents were unable to make this transition, so they
always had to think about the act of cycling. They
were certainly frightened, but whether the fear
was the cause of the problem, or merely the result
 95

of the constant prospect of falling, I do not know. I

believe that this is not a defect in the sense of bal-
ance itself, because I know a cyclist who has no
sense of balance at all. He can ride smoothly in
daylight or halflight by relying on visual cues, but
he cannot stand or ride in total darkness or with
his eyes shut. His symptoms seem so different
from these that I do not believe that these stu-
dents suffer from the inability to balance, although
I have never tested any to see if they can stand
with their eyes closed. I can suggest two explana-
tions. The first is the emotional explanation that
the person was so afraid of falling over that the
fear demanded his full attention to ensure that this
feared event did not happen. The second is the
neurological explanation that each of these per-
sons suffered from some neurologic defect that
either prevented the unconscious activity from
forming, or, much more likely, prevented it from
exercising control through hand motions rather
than through the legs as it is normally exercised. I
estimate that perhaps 2% of the population suffers
from this condition.
As I have written, these students quit voluntarily
before I had to terminate them. If an instructor
notices such behavior of a student who does not
quit, I advise that he instruct this student to leave
the class before the fourth session. If the student
wishes, he may practice on his own on play-
grounds and quiet streets to develop smoothness
in bicycle maneuvering, and if he succeeds he
may attempt the course the next time it is given.